Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Union Home Ministry has zeroed down on Chhattisgarh and its worst affected division Bastar as the focal point of its anti-Naxal operations.
As per reports in a leading Daily, the Centre has decided to initiate psychological war policy, posting officers from Army and central para-military forces with experience in anti-Maoists ops and district reserve police to strengthen SP level officers, among other things, to deal with red terror.
It has also decided to send more personnel on the ground to fill the security gap, particularly in Maoists infested Bastar, the Daily quoted sources as saying.
As per a recent presentation of the Chhattisgarh governement, though the Maoists have been active in Bastar since 70s, they increased their activities some 14 years back. It also said that the area has become main centre of red terror and left-wing extremism.
Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh recently met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The state reportedly requested the Centre for 26 more battalions, ie., around 26,000 security men.
Bastar is surrounded by Odisha, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh and all three states are dealing with problems of red terror. More central forces would perhaps help checking movement of Maoists from one state to another and curtail them, as per experts.
In May last year, in an audacious attack the Naxals targeted a convoy of Congress leaders in the state`s Jagdalpur district and killed party`s senior leader Mahendra Karma, who was the guiding force behind Salwa Judum (a vigilante movement against Naxals that involved arming villagers) and and former legislator Uday Mudliliyar among others.
The attack by nearly 100 to 150 ultras claimed more than 15 lives.
