Patna: Bihar government has requested the Centre for a helicopter to carry out operations against Maoists, Water Resources minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary told the Assembly on Monday.
The state government has written to the Centre recently and would do so in the future, requesting it to provide a helicopter to deal with the Maoist insurgency, Chaudhary said while replying to a short notice question by BJP MLA Avanish Kumar Singh.
Regretting the delay in requisitioning a helicopter, he said the state government had written to the Centre in 2011 seeking guidelines for availability of one to Bihar.
Since the Centre had not framed guidelines and conditions required for hiring a helicopter for anti-Maoist operations, the state government has sought one from neighbouring Jharkhand, he said.
Although Jharkhand has been cooperating with Bihar as far as availability of helicopter was concerned, it was imperative that the state government has one at its disposal for anti-Maoist campaigns, the minister said.
Apart from Bihar, the Maoist-affected states of Odisha, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh have helicopters for such use, the minister added.
PTI
