Odisha seeks 2 more battalions of central forces to tackle left-wing extrimism

Odisha has 17 battalions of of central armed police forces and has asked for two more

The Odisha government said, on Tuesday, it would ask for two more battalions of central forces to tackle the Left-wing extremism (LEW) in the state.

"We would like to seek two more battalions of any central armed forces like Boarder Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force, Sashastra Seema Bal and Indo-Tibetan Border Police," Chief secretary A P Padhi said after presiding over a meeting.

Senior officers of CRPF, BSF, intelligence wings of both the central and state governments were present at the meeting.

The state presently has deployed a total of 17 battalions of central armed police forces including eight each battalions of CRPF and BSF and one battalion of Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (COBRA), a specialised unit of the CRPF in the state to tackle the LWE situation.

Apart from the central para-military force, the state has also deployed its special operation group (SOG) jawans, district voluntary force (DVF) and general police in anti-maoist operations.

"Besides operational and coordination issues, we have discussed on intelligence sharing with two adjoining states as Maoists shift their base to neighbouring states when there was operation from one side," a senior official engaged in anti-maoist operation said.

As the LWE situation still posed a challenge in districts like Malkangiri, Koraput, Nuapada, Rayagada, Kandhamal, Kalahandi, Balangir, Nayagarh, Rourkela and Bargarh, the officer said more forces were required for these places.

Recently, while addressing the Assembly, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had said that the LWE situation has improved in districts like Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Myurbhanj, Gajapati, Ganjam, Nabarangapur, Sambalpur, Deogarh and Sundargarh.