Chidambaram's Gadchiroli visit may help curb Naxal menace: RR Patil

Union home minister P Chidambaram's first visit to the Naxal-affected Gadchiroli district may help in curbing the Naxal menace there, Maharashtra home minister RR Patil said.

"The Union home minister's visit to Gadchiroli would help in curbing the Naxal menace. We have also received aid of Rs25 crore towards developmental work in the district he announced during the visit," Patil told reporters in Mumbai today.

The Centre is also going to arrange for deploying CRPF battalions in the Naxal-affected districts alongside the state police force, Patil said.

The state government has been doing lot of development work in the area like building roads, schools and providing health facilities, the minister claimed. A bridge of Rs210 crore over Pranhita river joining Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh at border village Sironcha has been proposed, he added.

Chidambaram, the first Union home minister to visit Gadchiroli, reviewed the anti-Naxal operations in the district on Tuesday to assess the preparedness of security forces deployed there. He also held a closed-door meeting with high ranking officials in Gadchiroli.