NCP chief Sharad Pawar alleged Saturday that a special budgetary provision for Naxal-affected Gadchiroli and Chandrapur districts in Maharashtra has been discontinued.
Talking about Wednesday's Naxal attack in Gadchiroli district in which 15 policemen and a civilian driver were killed, he also accused Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of neglecting the area.
"The Naxal issue is old. But when I was chief minister, we saw it as not just a law and order problem but also a development issue. If the development of these areas is neglected, the Naxals take advantage of people's resentment," he said at a press conference here.
"We started a special budgetary provision for development of Gadchiroli and Chandrapur, which has been discontinued now," Pawar claimed.
Remembering late NCP leader and former state home minister R R Patil, he said, "Despite being from Sangli (in western Maharashtra), Patil demanded that he be made guardian minister of Gadchiroli. He kept in touch with the local administration to oversee all development programmes.
"However, chief minister Fadnavis, despite being from Vidarbha (of which Gadchiroli is a part), went to Gadchiroli only to lay wreaths on the mortal remains of martyrs (after the May 1 attack)," the NCP chief said.
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