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Raman Singh's 'Mission Sukma': Use air power, target extremist leaders

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Monday outlined 'Mission Sukma', which suggests use of air power, targeting naxal leadership, continuous development works among others, to eradicate the left-wing extremism from the worst affected district of the state.

Addressing a review meeting chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh on anti-naxalism measures here, he also sought changes in the structure of 'unified command' and allow district-level officers to take decisions on anti-maoist operations at their level.

At present, chief minster takes strategic decision during the meeting of unified command on anti-maoists operations.

"Sukma is at the heart of maoists and a core area for the naxalites. We should start a mission with a clear aim to rid Sukma of this problem," Raman Singh said.
He strongly advocated the use of aerial assistance to sustain the fight against the naxalites.

He said other main points of the mission should be: targeting interior areas, hitting naxal leaders, occupying new areas, camping with aerial assistance, managing a strong hold on the ground, constructing roads with a view to eradicate naxalites and ensuring continuous development.

"During the period, when we cope up after any (naxal) incident, we keepthe front open for naxals. This should change. We should keep air reinforcement capability ready so that naxals are also afraid of (getting) attacked," he said.

Raman Singh said a record number of 135 naxals were killed last year.
"Earlier, the number of naxals killed used to be 30 per year on an average, whereas in 2016, this number was three times more than that of the security personnel martyred," he said. He regreted casualty of security personnel.

As many as 41 jawans were killed in Chhattisgarh in 2016.
However, there have been more casualty of security force personnel this year.
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