Jagdalpur: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday arrived in Chhattisgarh's Bastar district to attend the 84th Raising Day event of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). Security has been strengthened in the region in view of the high-profile visit, said officials. The CRPF's annual celebration is being held for the first time in a Naxal-affected area, according to officials.
The function will be held at Karanpur camp of the 201st battalion of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), an elite anti-Naxal unit of the CRPF, on Saturday at 8 am, they said. Shah landed at Jagdalpur airport in a special aircraft shortly after 5 pm and headed for Karanpur camp, some 20 km from here, in a helicopter, a senior police official said.
The Union minister was received by BJP leaders from Bastar, including the state's former minister Kedar Kashyap, and senior paramilitary and police officials, he said. Shah is scheduled to hold a meeting with senior paramilitary and police personnel in the camp, he said. On Saturday morning, he will attend the 84th Raising Day of the CRPF there and then visit a security camp at Potakpalli village in the neighbouring Sukma district, he added.
Security has been heightened in the Bastar region in view of Shah's visit, he said. The CRPF, the country's largest Central Armed Police Force (CAPF), with about 3.25 lakh personnel, is designated as the lead national internal security force operating in three main domains of Left Wing Extremism (LWE), counter-insurgency operations in the Northeast and counter-terrorist operations in Jammu and Kashmir.
Bastar division, which has been struggling with the LWE for over three decades, comprises seven districts namely Bastar, Kanker, Kondagaon, Sukma, Dantewada, Narayapur and Bijapur. The CRPF is extensively deployed in south Bastar region that comprises Sukma, Dantewada and Bijapur districts that have seen several major Maoist attacks and counter-offensive operations by security forces led by the CRPF.
Talking to reporters earlier in the day, Director-General of CRPF Dr Sujoy Lal Thaosen claimed that Naxalism has been losing its ground slowly and very soon security forces will be in a decisive situation. The CRPF battalions deployed in Chhattisgarh have significantly reduced Naxal-related incidents. There has been a decline in the killings of civilians and officers in the area, he said.
He said setting up of forward operating bases in Naxal strongholds in Chhattisgarh (17), Jharkhand (23), Odisha (7), Telangana (2), Bihar (2) and Maharashtra (2) in the last year has helped facilitate the building of roads and schools as well as to carry out anti-Naxal operations. Thaosen said their primary objective is to cover the maximum area through operations.
The top official said that CRPF's work is not confined to being posted on war fronts but also to work towards social betterment. We also have to work against social evils, provide security and promote women empowerment. Therefore a team of women bikers has embarked on a rally to promote the ideas of upliftment of the women and their empowerment, the DG said.
Seventy-five women bikers from the CRPF launched a rally from India Gate, Delhi, on March 9 celebrating the country's 75th year of Independence Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' and the spirit of women empowerment. After covering 1,848 km across Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, the bike rally will conclude in Jagdalpur on Saturday at CRPF's Raising Day celebrations, he added.
In response to a query, the DG said that security forces sometimes do not receive adequate medical treatment when necessary. Therefore, a proposal was submitted to establish a trauma centre in Jagdalpur, which has now been approved. On the question of alleged airstrikes being conducted in Bastar, he said that a drone is used only for surveillance. The CRPF was raised in 1939 and India's first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel presented the Presidential colours to it on March 19, 1950. (PTI)
