New Delhi/Raipur: As the March 2026 deadline to end Naxalism in India draws near, security forces have begun implementing a comprehensive action plan for the remote Abujhmad region of Chhattisgarh with the ITBP creating a strategic base in the area to check Maoist activities.
An operations base was established by the 44th battalion of the central paramilitary in the Lanka village, about 140 kms from the district headquarters of Narayanpur, on November 28.
“This Indo-Tibetan Border Police camp is in the Abujhmad forests in the Bastar region of south Chhattisgarh and its location is very strategic as it is just three kms from the Chhattisgarh-Maharashtra
border.
“On the other side is the Naxal affected Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra”, a senior officer posted in Chhattisgarh said.
Abujhmad or the ‘unknown territory’ is spread over about 4,000 sq km in the Narayanpur district and has been categorised by the security agencies and Chhattisgarh administration as the den of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist).
Abujhmad’s dense forests have served as a hideout for CPI (Maoist)’s cadres and commanders.
The forests host about 35,000 people, mainly tribals, residing in around 237 villages.
There has been a coordinated effort by the central and state police forces to build security bases here so that government machinery can be installed here leading to initiation of development
works.
“The Lanka ITBP base effectively seals a crucial Naxal gateway, denying insurgents a critical cross-border movement and supply chain between Gadchiroli district (Maharashtra) and Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh,” the
officer said.
This is the ninth such camp erected by the ITBP in the Abujhmad area in the last three months as part of a comprehensive action plan to strike deep into the Naxal violence affected areas of the state.
Central forces like the mountain-warfare trained ITBP have been working here to meet the Union government’s deadline of eradicating Left Wing Extremism (LWE) from the country by the first quarter of 2026. Agencies
The other ITBP camps in the Abujhmad area are located in Edjum, Idwaya, Ader, Kudmel, Jatloor, Dhobe, Dodi Marka and Padmeta.
All these bases will also help the security forces cut off the long-used corridor by the Naxal cadres between Telangana, Maharashtra and Abujhmad, another officer said.
The Lanka company operating base (COB) of the ITBP is not only vital as it sits across Gadchiroli but is also located about six kms north of the Indravati river, facing Bedre in Bijapur district.