Chhattisgarh will spend Rs.26.5 million ($675,000) for roads, drinking water and schools in the state's impoverished northern region comprising six tribal-dominated districts, officials said here Monday.

'The government has decided to sanction a little over Rs.26.5 million, carrying out 83 small infrastructure projects in (the) northern districts mainly related to school building construction, drinking water facilities and road construction,' a senior government official told IANS.

The Surguja Development Authority will release the funds for the six districts of Surguja, Kawardha, Koriya, Jashpur, Raigarh and Korba.

The forested districts of Surguja along with Jashpur and Koriya are the most poverty-stricken districts of Chhattisgarh whose residents, mostly tribals, migrate in large numbers to work in big cities.

Officials say the state's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has invested millions since it came to power in December 2003 to improve the quality of life in northern region but the area still has high rates of malnutrition-related deaths.

The police say the northern region is also infamous for human trafficking, where local agents take away daughters of poverty-hit families to big cities where they are sexually exploited.

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