New Delhi: An investigation conducted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has revealed that members of CPI (Maoists) have been trying to motivate ex-naxal cadres to rejoin the proscribed terrorist organization and carry out sabotage activities.
In several chargesheets filed against apprehended senior Maoist leaders, the NIA has said that the 'terrorist' outfit is trying to motivate most of the surrendered cadres, especially in Chhattisgarh and Bihar.
In one such chargesheet, filed against senior Maoist leader Pramod Mishra alias Sohan Da alias Madan Da alias Bibi Je alias Baba, the premier investigation agency has pointed out that he was also involved in motivating ex-naxal cadres to re-join the proscribed terrorist organization CPI (Maoist).
“Mishra’s intention was to involve those senior surrendered Maoists in various anti-India activities. They want to strike terror in common masses and to threaten the unity, integrity, security and sovereignty of India,” the chargesheet said.
The agency has recently filed a chargesheet against Mishra in a case pertaining to the recovery of an AK-47 from cadres of CPI (Maoist) in the forest area of Bairiyakala village under Laukariya police station in the Bagha district of Bihar. He has been charged under sections 120B & 121A of IPC and u/s 16, 17, 18, 20, 38 39 & 40 of UA (P) Act, 1967.
During the Investigation, it was found that Mishra was propagating the ideology of the CPI (Maoist) and organising arms and ammunition for the outfit. “In fact, Mishra was one of the prominent leaders of the outfit who was looking after raising funds for the organization. And these funds were utilized to procure arms and ammunition to carry out terror activities,” the chargesheet said.
A senior official from NIA said that the outfit is presently concentrating on regrouping especially in Bihar and Chhattisgarh. Speaking to ETV Bharat, renowned security expert and former director general of Border Security Force (BSF) Prakash Singh also admitted that the Maoists could certainly try to regroup its cadres and strengthen the organisation.
“The successive anti-naxal operations conducted by the security agencies have definitely given them a jolt. So, with an aim to strengthen its organisations, they could have started the re-grouping attempt,” said Singh. However, according to Singh, there should be a coordinated approach of all the agencies against naxals.
“Along with carrying anti-Naxal operations, there should be proper and real-time intelligence sharing among different security agencies,” said Singh. According to government data, there has been an overall 48 per cent reduction in violent incidents (1136 to 594) and a 65 per cent reduction (397 to 138) in the resultant deaths (civilians and security forces) in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) violence in 2023 as compared to 2013.
Chhattisgarh, however, remained the worst affected state and constituted 63 per cent of the total LWE-related violence incidents and 66 per cent of the resultant deaths.
In order to holistically address the LWE problem in an effective manner, the central Government has formulated a National Policy and Action Plan adopting a multi-pronged strategy in the areas of security, development, ensuring rights and entitlement of local communities, etc.
Road Requirement Plan-I (RRP-I) for LWE-affected areas: This scheme is being implemented by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways to improve road connectivity in 34 LWE-affected districts of 8 States including Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh. This scheme envisaged the construction of 5,361 km of road lengths in LWE-affected States, of which 5178 km of roads have been completed.
Road Connectivity Project for LWE affected areas (RCPLWE): The Government approved this scheme on December 28, 2016, for further improving road connectivity in LWE affected States, with an estimated expenditure of Rs 11,725 crore.
Under the scheme, 12,228 km of roads and 705 bridges are sanctioned. The Ministry of Rural Development is the nodal Ministry for this project. The roads included under the scheme have been identified by the Ministry of Home Affairs in consultation with the State Governments and the security agencies. 9334 km of roads and 455 bridge works have been completed.
Telecom Connectivity:
Three telecom projects, namely, Mobile Connectivity Project Phase-I & Phase-II, Provision of 4G mobile services in uncovered villages of Aspirational Districts and Saturation of 4G mobile services, are being implemented in LWE-affected areas to improve telecom connectivity. A total of 10,547 mobile towers are planned in LWE areas under these projects, of which 6567 mobile towers have been installed so far.
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