Police seek drones, choppers in MP over Maoist threat

Authorities in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh’s Mandla and Balaghat districts have sought helicopters, drones, satellite phones and additional forces for the November 28 assembly elections, citing a heightened threat of Maoist violence threat in the region.

Mandla and Balaghat are among Madhya Pradesh’s Maoist-affected districts .

“…there is heightened threat perception… there is (an) increased movement of Maoists in these two districts,’’ said Balaghat police inspector general Venkateshwar Rao. Rao said a Maoist leaflet threatening to kill police informers was seized from neighbouring Chhattisgarh’s Kavardha on Monday. “We have asked for 130 companies (105 for Balaghat and 25 for Mandla, which is 20% more than the deployment for the 2013 election) apart from helicopters, satellite phones and drones from the Election Commission.”

Rao said the state police want to ensure peaceful polls and was making adequate preparations. “On Monday, too, we had a meeting of officials from Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra to further fine-tune the strategy,” he said.

An officer familiar with the development explained that the helicopters would be necessary for carrying out rescue operations in case of an attack. He added satellite phones had been sought as there are 25 so-called “shadow areas” in the two districts where there are no mobile phone networks. “…five drones have been asked for the road opening parties (which ensure there are no landmines or presence of Maoists along important routes security forces take),” he said on condition of anonymity.

The assembly polls are being held months after the Maoists’ move to form a new MMC (Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh) zone to expand their operations came to light.. The zone comprises districts situated in the tri-junction of the three states. As many as 108 armed men have been assigned to the zone. Milind Teltungre, a Maoist central committee member, heads the zone.

Maoist leader Pahar Singh, 48, who surrendered to the police in Chhattisgarh’s Rajnandgaon and headed operations in places including Balaghat, has told his interrogators about a Maoist plan to develop four more dalams

The dalams are apart from Malajkhand dalam, which is operating in Balaghat, and the newly formed Vistaar dalam, whose cadre is drawn from Chhattisgarh’s Bastar, where Maoists are active.

Madhya Pradesh’s additional director general and anti-Maoist operations head Sanjeev Singh said the police had conducted several operations to ensure peaceful elections. “Their movement has increased, but we, too, have increased ours so there would not be any problems,’’ he said.

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