Rourkela: Eight districts in Odisha have been freed from the menace of Maoists due to aggressive operations and now the focus would be on the western districts, state police chief Prakash Mishra said on Wednesday.
"We have achieved major successes against Naxals. About 8 of the 17 Maoist-affected districts are now free from the menace following aggressive drives," he told reporters during a visit here.
The eight districts are Nayagarh, Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Sundergarh, Keonjhar, Sambalpur, Mayurbhanj and Deogarh, he said.
The police would now concentrate on Bolangir, Bargarh and Nabrangpur in western Odisha along with Gajapati and Rayagada districts to demolish Naxal bases, he said.
"Our other main thrust would be on Koraput and Malkanagiri. We have special aggressive plans for those areas and in the coming days you will find defining results there for the forces," Mishra said.
On Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda, the DGP said, "He has set up bases in Gajapati, Ganjam and Kandhamal. Panda`s base is weakening. Besides, the situation has changed after he left the CPI (Maoist) and formed Odisha Maoist Party."
To a question, he said, "We are trying to bring him back to the mainstream, but it is up to him. If he does not do that, cadres from other areas will encroach on his terrain and bases which will harm him more.
"We are also trying to wean him to civilian life and win over his bases before they go into the hands of cadres from other areas."
On urban terrorism, he said, "We are going to set up two special units with sophisticated weapons and logistic support. These units will be stationed at Bhubaneswar and Puri and comprise over 100 personnel."
On marine policing, Mishra said it was a new concept. So far four marine police stations have been established and more would be set up with modern equipment and weapons.
"We require trained ex-navy personnel for manning the boats for which we are facing a little problem else there is no other hiccup," said Mishra.
PTI
