Have regained many Naxal areas in Lalgarh: MHA

Union Home Minister P Chidambarams proposed visit to Lalgarh in West Bengal comes in the wake of the fact that security forces engaged in battling the Naxals there have managed to regain control over large areas dominated by Left-wing extremists and civil administration has been restored in many of these reclaimed areas.

Officials in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said a majority of areas that had become Maoist strongholds over the past few months have been regained and development activities were being initiated there. Most of the police stations have reopened. Schools have also started running although there is a severe shortage of teachers there, an official said.

Chidambarams visit was essentially aimed as an exercise to take first-hand stock of the situation and to boost the morale of the forces ,officials said.

On Maoist leader Kishenji,MHA sources said he was either recuperating from an injury or had been asked to lie low. Kishenji has been very quiet. Whether it is for a tactical reason or because of differences with Ganapathi,we dont know, a MHA source said,adding that the government had credible intelligence to suggest a rift between between the two over many issues,including over Kishenji’s frequent interaction with the media..