Signalling the ouster of the Maoists from there,Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh today hoisted the national tri-colour flag at Saranda,Asia’s largest sal forest.

Saranda,considered a den of the CPI(Maoist) till recently,was liberated from Maoists last year.Ramesh is the first Union Minister who had unfurled the national flag inside Saranda at the Digha Primary School premise.

Though a number of development schemes were launched and implemented inside this forest under the Saranda Action Plan,Ramesh was not satisfied with them.

Ramesh regretted the tardy pace of the plan and observed that he would now try to develop another forest –hill areas of Saryu in Latehar,where the security forces were trying to flush out the Maoists.

The Union Minister also used the occasion to inaugurate a road constructed under the Integrated Development Plan and handed over a cheque of Rs 10 lakh for completion of the Panchayat Bhawan at Digha.