NAGPUR: State home minister Anil Deshmukh, while praising voters from Jhaveli Khurd village of Etapalli in Gadchiroli who exercised their franchise after 57 years during the recent gram panchayat elections, has asked the district collector to send proposal for rewarding at least 100 such villages where polling was conducted under critical circumstances.
The minister, who was in Gadchiroli this week, said history was made as the district’s population stepped out to exercise their democratic rights ignoring any threat.
“The villagers, who earlier did not support polling due to Naxal threat, came out to vote this time. Some incentive could be given to them in the range of Rs5-10 lakh for developmental work,” he said and added that smooth polling happened in 1,181 booths at 320 gram panchayats with 81% voting. “There was no untoward incident,” he said.
The home minister, who was briefed about law and order situation in Gadchiroli by DIG Sandip Patil and SP Ankit Goyal, also met the C-60 commandos to hear their grievances. He promised to help them in every way, including raising special commando incentive from Rs 4,000 to Rs 8,000, to increase their operational effectiveness.
“It’s only because of the C-60 commandos that Naxal threat is diminishing in the district. The C-60 commandos with their successful operations have a firm stranglehold on the Naxals,” he said.
Deshmukh also took overview of the weaponry and ammunitions of the security forces.