Bhubaneswar: Noting that Maoist violence was
high in Odisha despite deployment of about 10,000 central
armed forces, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday asked the
state to "learn" from other states and the Centre to tackle
the menace.
"I have learnt their (state) problems. Now Odisha should
learn a little more from other states and the Centre ... the
state administration and the police should gain mastery over
the situation," Chidambaram told reporters here after a
meeting with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
"The number of casualty of civilian and security forces
stand at 48 by the end of October. By end of the year, it may
go a little beyond 50. This is unacceptably high level of
casualty," he said.
Pointing out that about 60 police station areas were
affected by Left-wing extremists, Chidambaram said, "Four
years ago, we had only four battalions of central armed police
in the state. Today, their number is 13 battalions besides one
battalion of Cobra force.
"Effectively, we inducted about 10,000 more central armed
constables and officers in the state. I have impressed upon
the state administration to show results," he said.
Maintaining that the level of violence was still high and
unacceptable, Chidambaram hoped that the "edge of the
Naxalites will be blunted."
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, however, claimed that
there was a decline in Maoist related casualty in the state
in comparison to the previous years.
"We have made much progress on the Maoist front," Patnaik
said.
PTI
