Highest 1,442 LWE cadres surrendered in 2016: Home Ministry (Lead)

New Delhi March 22 (IANS) The Union Home Ministry said on Wednesday the government s rehabilitation policies had led to the record surrender of 1 422 Left Wing Extremist (LWE) cadres in 2016 -- almost double compared to 2015.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said the state governments have their own surrender and rehabilitation incentives to bring LWE cadres into the mainstream and the central government reimburse the claims.

The Minister said 570 LWE cadres surrendered in 2015 and 676 in 2014.

The rehabilitation amount spent on surrendered LWE cadres is reimbursed under the security-related expenditure scheme. For the higher ranked LWE cadres the government reimburses Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 1.5 lakh for middle- and lower-ranked cadres he said.

Additional incentives between Rs 10 000 and Rs 35 000 are given to those who surrender along with weapons and ammunition. The reimbursement depends on type of weapons the Minister said.

In addition he added a monthly stipend of up to Rs 4 000 per month per LWE cadre is paid to surrendered militants. The stipend is paid for a maximum period of 36 months for vocational training.

--IANS
rak/tsb