The Maharashtra govt will soon set up an exclusive force to tackle Naxalite threat in the six-affected districts in the eastern part of the state.
The Maharashtra government will soon set up an exclusive force — Special Action Group (SAG) — to tackle Naxalite threat in the six-affected districts in the eastern part of the state.
Director General of Police (DGP) PS Pasricha said the SAG would be formed, for the first time, out of the Maharashtra police to counter the growing Naxalite menace.
Alarmed by reports indicating a 15 per cent rise in incidents of violence triggered by Naxalites after 2003 (the deadliest one was when seven policemen and a civilian were killed in a landmine blast on Deori-Chinchgad Road in Gondia in May 2005), mostly concentrated on the eastern fringes of the state bordering Andhra Pradesh, the state government has finally okayed the formation of the special unit.
Pasricha said, “We have secured the necessary sanction to set up a Special Action Group (SAG) to effectively deal with the Maoist-Naxalite threat. The task force will be set up soon.’’
Parallel efforts are on to revamp the existing intelligence gathering mechanism to combat the crisis, Pasricha added.
Security experts feel that formation of the special task force is a clear proof of the fact that the government has finally waken up to the growing ‘Red Terror’ and is willing to harness available resources at its disposal.
Government reports show that Gadchiroli, Chandrapur, Gondiya, Yavatmal, Bhandara and Nanded are “Naxalite-Maoist prone areas”.
Earlier, the government had created the post of an officer of the rank of an inspector general (IG Anti-Naxalite Operations) based in Nagpur to spearhead anti-extremist programmes.
It is learnt that the government is more concerned about inroads made by them into the state.
Deputy chief minister RR Patil had also mooted the idea of a “socio-economic package” for villagers sometime back.
A senior home department official said, “We are worried about the Naxalite threat. We don’t want them to repeat what they had succeeded doing in Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa, parts of West Bengal and Chhattisgarh.”
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