The state is pulling out all the stops to ensure that terror is rooted out from Maharashtra. Fed up of making efforts to de-radicalise the youth from joining terror outfits, Maharashtra has now made an interesting choice: it has linked urban planning — or the lack of it — to the growth of communal forces in the state.

On Wednesday, the government declared the four districts of Bhiwandi, Malegaon, Aurangabad and Sangli-Miraj, as minority-dominated areas that needed special stimulus for sustained infrastructure and planning. A lack of it over the years, the government has concluded, has resulted in radicalisation of the youth and communal disharmony.