Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: In the wake of repeated attacks
by Maoists on CRPF, the government is working out a plan for
the redeployment of paramilitary forces engaged in anti-Naxal
operations in states.
The development, two days after Naxals ambushed and killed 27 CRPF jawans in Chhattisgarh, comes as the CPI-Maoist vowed to continue attacking security forces.
"We will continue to hit hard security personnel because their atrocities against local innocent people are continuing," Gudsa Usendi, spokesperson of CPI-Maoist`s frontal unit, DK Special Zonal Committee, told a news channel in Chhattisgarh from an undisclosed location.
The spokesperson refused to give details about the June 29 attack that left 27 security personnel dead in Narayanpur district, a part of 40,000 sq km restive Bastar region.
The guerrilla evaded questions such as how many Maoists were killed, how many rebels took part in the ambush, who led the attack, and how many and what kind of weapons the Maoists had looted from the slain men.
"The June 29 attack was part of Maoists` continuous retaliation against police atrocities on locals," he said.
A plan is now being worked out for reconfiguration,
redeployment and strengthening of the paramilitary forces in
Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal phasewise in
consultation with the state governments.
"It has become necessary to review the deployment of
forces and a suitable decision will be taken according to the
operational requirement and developmental reasons," a Home
Ministry official said.
However, no central forces deployed in a particular
state will be moved out from that state.
According to the plan, which will be implemented first
in Chhattisgarh where CRPF has faced maximum casualties in the
recent past, the distances of troop posts will be reduced and
in some cases the number of personnel will be increased while
in other cases the posts will be relocated.
After Chhattisgarh, the plan will be implemented in
Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal.
Home Minister P Chidambaram had yesterday said that
"relocation and reconfiguration" of paramilitary forces in
Chhattisgarh may be required as some of them were not
operationally viable.
"These deployments have been made in 2007 and 2008.
So, I have asked the Chhattisgarh government to examine the
deployments in 2010," he had said.
`Chhattisgarh police to adopt aggressive strategy`
Chhattisgarh police will adopt an aggressive strategy while dealing with the Naxalites in the
wake of increasing attacks by the outlaws, State Home Minister
Nanki Ram Kanwar said today.
The police will adopt an aggressive stance against Naxals
and will try to eliminate them rather than risking their
lives, Kanwar told reporters here.
A change in strategy has been necessitated following
three major strikes in the State in which the lives of many
jawans were lost, he said.
Kanwar said Chief Minister Raman Singh held a high level
meeting to discuss the issue but refused to divulge further
details.
Government has appointed two
senior officers to new specialised posts within the CRPF for
anti-Naxal operations in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand as part of
steps to effectively deal with the Maoist challenge following
the Dantewada massacre.
Official sources said the Ministry of Home Affairs has
appointed A Ponnuswamy as Inspector General (Operations) for
Chhattisgarh and M P Nathanael in Jharkhand under the same
capacity.
Both officers, who belong to the CRPF cadre, would
exclusively deal with the anti-Naxal operations in the state.
The duo would not be given any administrative charge.
As per the E N Rammohan committee that went into the
circumstances of the April 6 Dantewada massacre that left 76
security personnel dead, there was lack of coordination and
violation of Standard Operating Procedures.
The Ministry had decided to replicate the Jammu and
Kashmir set up in Naxal affected areas after the
Under the new system, Pankaj Kumar Singh, an IPS officer
of the Rajasthan cadre, has already taken over as Inspector
General (Operations) in West Bengal.
Similarly, CRPF Eastern Sector IG Nageshwar Rao, an IPS
officer of Orissa cadre, has been moved to Orissa to take over
the operations there in a similar capacity.
The new system is a drastic shift from the earlier where
there was only one IG level officer in the headquarters to
look after operations of the entire force.
-
Agencies inputs
