Forces launch final assault, Centre prepares blueprint post March 31

New Delhi: Security forces deployed in the anti-Naxal operations grid have launched a mega operation to neutralise the remaining armed Maoist cadres with less than a week remaining until the national deadline of March 31 to end left wing extremism in the country.

Official sources told the news agency that the Centre is also preparing an “operations and development” blueprint which is expected to include an announcement for withdrawal of about five Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) battalions from these regions and the launch of multiple welfare schemes.

About three to four CoBRA units of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) are being moved from Chhattisgarh to Jharkhand to undertake a special operation in the Saranda forests of West Singhbhum district, they said.

Similarly, the sources said that teams from CRPF, BSF and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) are being “re-located” in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar area with the specific aim of engaging armed Maoist cadres in a gunbattle or forcing their surrender.

The sources indicated that a cross-border operation involving Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Odisha is also in the works.

“The plan is to ensure 100 per cent neutralisation of armed Naxals by March 31, a deadline announced by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. This would either by engaging in encounters or getting effected surrenders.

“Some large operations are being undertaken in these last 5-6 days of the countdown,” a top CAPF commander told the news agency.

Security forces are still tracking about 130-150 armed cadres, two central committee members of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) and some other divisional-rank operatives.

Misir Besra alias Bhaskar is stated to be based in Jharkhand and CoBRA teams are searching for him and his associates. Rammanna, also known as Ganapathi or Laxman Rao is reportedly in touch with Telangana Police and may surrender by March 31, according to officials.

Another officer said that about three battalions of the Border Security Force (BSF), along with a sector office headed by a DIG-rank officer, are expected to withdraw from Koraput district and adjoining areas of Odisha.

The sector office could relocate to Kandhamal district in the state and the three battalions will either move for border guarding duties or to Manipur, as the situation may warrant.

Some CAPF battalions from Chhattisgarh will also be withdrawn. An announcement in this context is expected on March 31. The state police and the Chhattisgarh DRG will take over the CAPF camps, the second officer added.