The Centre on Wednesday said it had initiated the process to obtain some 250 bullet-proof and mine-protected vehicles for security personnel involved in anti-Maoist operations in Chhattisgarh, PTI reported. Meanwhile, the Home Ministry clarified in a statement that lack of financial resources was not the reason for casualties among security forces in the restive region.

It also refuted media reports that the state police was acutely short staffed and lacked coordination with central forces. “In addition to 45,000 central forces, more than 20,000 state police personnel are posted in Bastar. Recruitment is on and a continuous process. For a force of 70,000, some 3,000 policemen retire every year, and there is always a pipeline of 6,000 people under recruitment,” the statement read.

The ministry pointed out that the annual funds allotted for the Security-Related Expenditure Scheme had increased from Rs 575 crore in 2012 to Rs 675 crore in 2014. It said there had been a “substantial” drop – a decline of 7% – in incidents of violence in Chhattisgarh since 2013.

The ministry specified that development works were underway in areas affected by “left-wing extremism”, including a 5,412-km road project worth Rs 11,725 crore. It further clarified that it had not issued any directive against showing grieving widows on news channels, but had made a verbal suggestion to avoid intruding.

On Tuesday, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had said the Centre will review its strategy to tackle left-wing extremism. This was a day after 25 troops of the Central Reserve Police Force were killed in an encounter with Maoists in Sukma.

On April 26, the government announced Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar as the new director general of the Central Reserve Police Force, two days after 25 security personnel had been killed in a Maoist encounter in Sukma, Chhattisgarh. The Centre was criticised for leaving the post vacant till then.