Naxals, police exchange fire in Chhattisgarh; no casualty

Raipur: A gun-battle broke out today between the security forces and Naxals at a forest in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, police said.

There were no reports of any casualty on either side, they said.

The skirmish took place this morning in Mahadeoghat area on the Bijapur-Bhopalpatnam road when a team of 85th battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was out on an area domination operation, Bijapur Superintendent of Police Mohit Garg told PTI.

When the patrolling team was cordoning off the forest near Mahadeoghat, located around 500 km from the state capital Raipur, Naxals triggered twin IED (improvised explosive device) blasts and opened fire on the security personnel, leading to the gun-battle, he said.

However, the rebels escaped into the forest after a brief exchange of fire, he said, adding that "no harm was reported to either side in the encounter".

Another police official said Naxals had reportedly put up some pamphlets in the Mahadeoghat area, opposing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled visit to Bijapur on April 14.

The prime minister would dedicate to the nation the 'Ayushman Bharat' scheme, the government's mega healthcare initiative, from Bijapur on the birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar.

Under the scheme, the government plans to open 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres in the country to provide people-centric comprehensive primary healthcare.

Also, over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families (approx 50 crore beneficiaries) in the country will be provided treatment coverage up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation, under the scheme.