EFFORTS TO DEVELOP MAOISTHIT AREAS, CHOKE REBEL FUNDING

NEW DELHI: A multi-pronged approach dictates the government’s strategy against Maoist rebels, which includes coordinated counter-insurgency measures, backed by choking of rebel funding sources and development of rural areas that have been their support bases traditionally, said officials familiar with the plan.

These measures apparently complement security operations, which became evident when police commandos killed 40 Maoists in the jungles of Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district this April in what is said to be the biggest successful drive against the insurgents in the state. “Multi-disciplinary groups comprising officers from central agencies as well as from the state police have been formed at the Centre and state levels to choke their finances and to ensure seizure and confiscation of properties of the Maoist leadership,” said a government official, requesting not be identified. “Besides, a process has been initiated to create a separate vertical in the NIA (National Investigation Agency) to investigate important cases related to left-wing extremism,” the official added. The Communist Party of India (Maoist) and its splinter groups run their finances through an extensive extortion network, levying what they call “protection tax” to contractors of government projects, kendu leave traders, timber merchants, miners and stone quarry operators. A Jharkhand police special branch report said in 2016 that the CPI (Maoist) and fringe groups collected about ₹200 crore annually from their extortion sources.