Budget for Naxal activities estimated at Rs 60 cr

NAXAL'S CONFESSION: Sriprakash Jaiswal said that the information was revealed by a Naxalite.

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Keywords: Chhattisgarh, Sriprakash Jaiswal, Maoists, Naxals

New Delhi: There is disturbing news on the increasing Naxal activities. The Naxal reportedly have a Rs 60 crore budget for weapons and explosives for a period of two years – from 2007 to 2009.

The information was provided by the Minister of State for Home, Sriprakash Jaiswal.

The Minister said the information has been revealed during the interrogation of a Naxalite by Jharkhand Police. He also added that Maoists are known to have sophisticated weapons and communication systems.

The extremists primarily get a substantial bulk of their weapons by looting and they also get them from illicit weapon manufacturing units, Jaiswal said.

Responding to another query, he said that the Chhattisgarh Police have reported that 42 pairs of pants and shirts and 40 metres of cloth meant for Naxalites were recovered in Bilaspur from a tailoring shop run by the wife of a Railway employee at her husband's railway quarter.

He said the case is under investigation. The total number of Naxalite-related incidents has increased from 1,509 in 2006 to 1,565 in 2007, he said.

There has, however, been a dip in the statistic since 2005, with 1,608 such incidents reported in that year.

The number of causalities of security forces has gone up from 157 in 2006 to 236 in 2007, while in the same period, the number of civilian casualties decreased from 521 to 460.