Bhopal (Madhya Praesh): In a bid to put a complete check on the activities of Naxals in three infested districts—Balaghat, Mandla, and Dindori—the Cabinet approved the creation of an 850-post special squad on Tuesday.

Local villagers will be recruited into the special squad and they will act as the eyes and ears of the government. These informers will receive an honorarium of Rs 25,000 per month for a year. The government will spend Rs 25 crore annually on this squad.

The need for the special squad arises in the wake of an intensive campaign against Naxals in neighbouring Chhattisgarh, as there is apprehension that Naxals may try to sneak into these three bordering districts.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet also decided to segregate 395.931 hectares of nazul land from Pachmarhi sanctuary. The land, which is currently under the control of SADA, will be used for promoting tourism activities in the hill station.

Earlier, through a notification in December 2017, around eleven villages were separated from the periphery of the sanctuary, while a few villages were retained within its enclosure. The matter related to the land had been sub judice for a long time, and the state government recently won the case in the High Court.

Decision to constitute State Centralised Pension Processing Cell to solve the pension cases was also taken in the meeting.