Forces plan major offensive against Naxals

Chhattisgarh DGP D.M. Awasthi chairs high-level meeting to finalise strategy for ‘final assault’ against Maoists in state

Security forces are planning one of the biggest offensive seen in recent times against Naxal outfits in Chhattisgarh. The operation which is being described as the final assault on the Naxal infested regions of Chhattisgarh is expected to be launched in the next week to ten days with specific focus on regions like Bastar, Sukma, Dantewada and Bijapur though the biggest offensive would be launched in the Bastar region, which has the highest presence of Naxal cadres.

Top security sources here claimed that Chhattisgarh director general of police, D.M. Awasthi, chaired a high level meeting on Tuesday with senior officials of the Central paramilitary forces, intelligence agencies and the state police to finalise the plan and strategy for the “final assault’’ against Naxals in the state, which is the worst affected from Naxal violence among the 10 States where Maoists have a footprint.

The decision to launch the major operation against Naxals comes in wake of specific intelligence inputs that Naxal too are planning a fresh offensive against security forces. Naxal violence has seen a steady drop in the last few years and thus were now planning a major strike to send out a strong signal, particularly to re-energise their cadres.

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“We have some specific information that Naxals are planning major strikes on security forces. This time they want to change their strategy to trigger a major blast on convoy of security forces that they have been doing till now. Instead, this time they are planning multiple strikes at the same time on different locations of security forces. But we plan to launch a counter offensive before they can target us. Naxal cadres are demoralised now as there has been a steady drop in their activities in the last few years so the fresh plan to target security forces is to raise the morale of their cadre,’’ a senior intelligence official said.

In fact, latest statistics also reveal that there has been an overall 26.7 per cent reduction in incidents of Naxal violence, from 833 incidents in 2018 from 1,136 in 2013 to 833 in 2018. Similarly, there has also been a 39.5 per cent drop in Left Wing related deaths — from 397 in 2013 to 240 in 2018.

At the same time casualties reported by security forces engaged in antiNaxal operations have also seen a 10.7% decline — from 75 in 2013 to 67 in 2018. However, the number of active Naxal cadres taken out has gone up by 65.4 per cent — from 136 in 2013 to 225 in 2018. Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand together accounted for 71.7 per cent of violent incidents and 81.7 per cent deaths.

The 10 states hit by Red terror are Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

THE DECISION to launch a major operation against the Naxals comes in wake of specific intelligence inputs that Naxal too are planning a fresh offensive against security forces in Chhattisgarh