Senior officials and dignitaries, including Chief Minister Raman Singh and state home and police functionaries, today paid their last respects to the seven CRPF jawans who were killed in a deadly landmine blast in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district.
Singh and acting state Home Minister Ajay Chandrakar led their Cabinet colleagues and senior officials of the Home and police departments in wreath-laying ceremony at the 'Mana' police battalion camp in the state capital.
The bodies of the slain personnel were brought here early today from Dantewada by choppers.
Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Director General K Durga Prasad, Senior Advisor in the Union Home Ministry (Left Wing Extremism) K Vijay Kumar and other paramilitary officers posted in the state also paid their last respects to their fallen colleagues.
The ceremonial troupe of the paramilitary, too, took part in the ceremony and reversed their arms and sounded the bugle in respect of the martyrs. The bodies were later sent to their hometowns.
Singh said he salutes the martyrs and security personnel who have taken on the duty of protecting the state and its people.
"We are not going to be cowed down by this incident. In fact, we are more determined to work strongly in the Naxal- violence affected areas of the state to ensure development," he said.
The chief minister asserted that Maoists are on the back foot after successful operations against them in the state led by CRPF, BSF, ITBP and state police personnel.
As many as 70 roads are being constructed in the Left Wing Extremism-hit areas of the state while a number of schools and hospitals, too, are coming up in these areas assisted by the security forces, he said.
The slain personnel are Assistant Sub-Inspector D Vijay Raj, head constable Pradeep Tirkey and constables Roop Narayan Das, Devendra Chourasia, Ranjan Das, Nana Uday Singh (driver) and Mritunjay Mukherjee. They belonged to CRPF's 230 battalion deployed in the south Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.
