5,500 of paramilitary guarding Gadchiroli

[RAM]

5,500 of paramilitary guarding Gadchiroli


contingent of 18 companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel — around 2,100 men — arrived in Gadchiroli on Sunday to assist in the combing operation to clear out the Naxal group that had gunned down 17 C-60 commandos last week near Lahiri.

Eight companies of the CRPF and 27 companies of the Border Security Force had been pressed into poll duty earlier this month. With the fresh arrivals, the number of paramilitary personnel in the district has gone up to over 5,500.

In a joint strategy chalked out by the Maharashtra police and the Chhattisgarh government, the combing operation has begun from both sides to first round up and then flush out the Naxals.

Gadchiroli Additional SP Dr Manoj Sharma said the second army MI-17 helicopter was pressed into operation on Sunday. Two more choppers would be made available this week.

Meanwhile, 20 kg of high-intensity explosives with blasting devices were recovered from Korchi, 65 km north of Gadchiroli, on Sunday.

Sharma said the recovery was made while clearing a road. The explosives had been stashed in a cavity, ostensibly by Naxals to disrupt movement.

The Naxals, he said, were resorting to “every possible trick” to obstruct the progress of the search parties in jungles as well as roads by creating obstacles.

“The jungles have been mined while attempts are being made to disrupt road communication,” Sharma said, adding that mine detectors and anti- mine equipment were being used to clear the passage.

 

[Flint]

The number of personnel involved and the inter-state cooperation is staggering.

 

[johnee]

Lets hope that the Indian elephant has finally woken up and will finish off this naxal menace once and for all.

 

[Daredevil]

Lets hope that the Indian elephant has finally woken up and will finish off this naxal menace once and for all.

Naxals are smart. They are using dense forests to their advantage to evade police action. We need a force which will breath-down the necks of naxals 24/7, until then they will survive to regroup and fight another day.

 

[johnee]

Naxals are smart. They are using dense forests to their advantage to evade police action. We need a force which will breath-down the necks of naxals 24/7, until then they will survive to regroup and fight another day.

Well the utterings from our ruling class have been positive so far, lets see how the action on the ground will pan out. But there is another angle to this, the covert-naxals(mascarading as NGOs, Journos, human rights) will have to be managed, and that is the difficult part, more than handling the overt-naxals.

 

[Vinod2070]

I think technology can help negate the terrain advantage of the Naxals. With satellite and air surveillance, they will have nowhere to hide.

What is needed is a sustained campaign across all the states effected by the menace.