New Delhi: A hill with an altitude of 5,000 feet, once a hub of the Maoists along the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border, was reclaimed by the security forces after driving out the extremists following nine days of intense anti-Naxal operation, official sources said.
The rugged Karregutta hill located in a dense forest was a den of dreaded Naxal leaders like Hidma, Deva, Damodar, Azad and Sujata, but has now completely been taken over by security forces, with the tricolour hoisted atop it.
The operation, one of the biggest counter-insurgency actions launched in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, involved around 24,000 security personnel belonging to different units, including the District Reserve Guard (DRG), Bastar Fighters, Special Task Force (STF), all units of the state police, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and its elite Commando Battalions for Resolute Action (CoBRA).
The forces completed the climb over a span of nine days to take control of this strategic high point that is at an altitude of nearly 5,000 feet, sources said on Thursday.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai has been closely monitoring the operation and giving instructions wherever required, they said.
Director General of the CRPF, GP Singh, visited the site of the operation at Karregutta on Wednesday to oversee the progress of the ongoing operation.
Backed by helicopters and drones, the operation was launched on April 21 on the inaccessible terrain and dense forests of Karregutta and Durgamgutta hills spread across an area of around 800 sq km on both sides of inter-state border abutting districts of Bijapur (Chhattisgarh) and Mulugu (Telangana).
The area where the operation is underway is present amid a range of hills surrounded by dense forests 450 km away from Raipur. It is considered to be a safe hideout for Maoists’ PLGA (People’s Liberation Guerilla Army) battalion No. 1, the strongest military formation of Naxals.
Sources said supplies for the security forces are being air-dropped by helicopters and it has now become clear that this is India’s largest anti-Naxal operation, covering a stretch of dense forest and hills.
Inputs suggest more than 500 Naxalites belonging to PLGA battalion No. 1, Telangana State Committee (TSC) and Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) of the Maoists led by their top leaders like Hidma, Barse Deva and Damodar had gathered for a meeting and were holed up in the area.
Sai said that victims of Maoist violence from the state’s Bastar region met him on Thursday and urged him to continue the ongoing massive anti-Naxal operation along the Telangana border.
Sai was speaking to reporters about the mega anti-insurgency exercise that has entered its 11th day.
Several activists and political parties from Telangana have demanded that the operation be halted at once and that the government come forward for peace talks with Naxalites.
“Victims of Naxal violence, including those who have lost vision and limbs, from Sukma, Bijapur and Kanker districts have reached here. Through an application, they have urged me to continue the anti-Naxal operation on Karregutta hills along the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border,” Sai told reporters.