Dinesh Sharma
New Delhi: The Centre has warned all Naxal affected states to be alert against a plan by the Maoists to cripple India’s economy.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has sent a letter to the Chief Secretaries and DGP's of 11 states warning them of the new strategy of CPI (Maoists) - infiltrate various infrastructure related ministries, departments and projects with cadre and sympathisers.
The letter, dated Oct 3, was sent to West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttarakhand.
Based on analysis of intelligence data collected by central intelligence agencies, the letter said that the CPI (Maoist), as part of the new strategy, is planning to target the surface transport and highways, shipping, railways, civil aviation, telecom and rural development.
While educated sympathisers will be used to take up office work or jobs with such ministries and departments, the uneducated cadre will be pumped into various ongoing infrastructure projects across the country.
This extremely dangerous strategy is being adopted by the CPI (Maoist) as they want to fill critical infrastructure areas with their cadres so that when the need arises they can stall work and cripple the Indian economy.
The MHA has advised all concerned states to conduct extensive verification drives to check background of all employees working with such crucial ministries/departments, besides ensuring that stringent mandatory checks are put in place for new appointments.
Moreover, all states have been asked to prepare a detailed list of suspicious persons to be sent to Multi Agency Centre (MACs) for further perusal.