Govt identifies 26 districts as highly Naxal-hit

New Delhi, April 12: The Government has identified 26 districts in the country as highly Naxal-affected with 80 percent violence in the last three years being reported from there.

The districts are spread over seven Maoist-hit states - Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal, official sources said in New Delhi on Friday.

Eight districts in Chhattisgarh where a large number of violence took place in last three years are Bastar, Bijapur, Dantewada, Kanker, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Rajnandgaon and Sukma.

Jharkhand's eight districts which have been considered as badly affected are Garhwa, Giridih, Gumla, Khunti, Latehar, Palamu, Simdega and West Singhbhum.

The three districts in Bihar which have been identified as highly violence-prone are Aurangabad, Gaya, and Jamui while three Odisha districts are Koraput, Malkangiri and Bolangir.

Andhra Pradesh's two districts - Khammam and Visakhapatnam, Maharashtra's Gadchiroli and West Bengal's West Midnapore have also been identified as Naxal-hit.

More than 600 people were killed in Naxal violence in last three years across the country and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had termed the meance as India's biggest internal security threat.

Naxal violence has been reported in areas falling under 270 police stations in 64 districts.

Sources said the Home Ministry is contemplating recruiting over 7,300 youth from these 26 districts in paramilitary forces in next few months.

This is part of the government's plan to encourage youth in Naxal-affected districts to join security forces and stay away from the Naxal movement.