New para military battalions to be deployed to counter Maoist violence in C’garh
Officials said that to counter Maoist violence in the region, these forces will be deployed mainly in the intersections of Sukma and Bijapur districts
Raipur: Chhattisgarh police will be deploying at least four new battalions of the paramilitary forces, around 2,800 personnel, in a couple of months in the war-zone Bastar region, officials familiar with the development said.
Officials said that to counter Maoist violence in the region, these forces will be deployed mainly in the intersections of Sukma and Bijapur districts.
“Four battalions of the Central Reserve Police Force have been sanctioned by the Union government, and we are planning to deploy them in Sukma and Bijapur districts. The aim is to counter the violence of Battalion number 1 of Maoists, which is responsible for all major attacks in the last 15 years,” said a senior police officer, requesting anonymity.
One battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) consists of at least 700 personnel, which means around 2,800 personnel will be in this area in the next few months, officials said.
According to officials, Bastar saw the last induction of four battalions in 2022.
“Four battalions mean 24 companies, which means that in core areas, two companies can be located at one location; hence, camps would be opened at least at 12 new locations. Strategy is to open camps along strategic roads that have been closed. Last time, four CRPF battalions were inducted in Sukma-Bijapur in the year 2022, which helped open three new axis roads. Most of the new companies would be deployed in Maoist core areas, which will curtail the movement of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) and battalion number-1 of Maoists,” another police officer posted in the Maoist-affected district said.
According to the Chhattisgarh police, there are around 60,000 security personnel deployed in the Bastar region, including 40,000 central forces and 20,000 state police personnel.
For nearly four decades, the Bastar region in southern Chhattisgarh has been a key battleground in the deadly conflict between the security forces and the banned left-wing extremist group Communist Party of India (Maoists). In 2006, then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described the Maoist insurgency as India’s most significant internal security threat.
The seven districts—Kanker, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Bastar, Dantewada, Sukma, and Bijapur—are all designated as Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas.
Despite ongoing violence, the areas under Maoist control have gradually shrunk, primarily confined to the two southern Bastar districts of Sukma and Bijapur and one in northern Bastar-Narayanpur, officials said.
“We are presently focusing on South Bastar, and by the end of this year more central forces will be called here to tackle Maoism in Narayanpur district,” said another police officer who deals with Left Wing Extremism in the state.
Bastar range inspector general of police (IGP), Sunderaj P, said that in the forthcoming season there is a need to address the security vacuum area in a few more pockets, but for security reasons it is not possible to disclose the time and scale of deployment.
“In the last couple of years, security forces in Bastar have made decisive inroads into the erstwhile Maoist stronghold areas in South Bastar and the Abhujmaad region. In continuation of those efforts, we had a good operational season during the last seven months of this year. More than 141 dead bodies of Maoists have been recovered so far in 2024 after 81 exchanges of fire in the Bastar range,” he added.
He further said that opening up of new security base camps in the left-wing extremist-affected areas has also brought in basic amenities to the native population in the form of anganwadi centers, primary schools, ration shops, electricity connectivity, mobile towers, roads, bridges, etc.