OUR CORRESPONDENT
Bhubaneswar, Sept. 20: Police top brass based in Koraput, Rayagada, Gajapati and Malkangiri have been put on alert while security has been beefed up at Malkangiri border today after an anti-Maoist operation went awry in Chhattisgarh.
Malkangiri is situated 40km from the site where Green Hunt, an anti-Maoist operation being conducted by the Chattisgarh Cobra force, was being conducted.
Apprehending that rebels attacked by the elite group of Cobra may sneak into Orissa to hide during the combing operation, the Orissa government issued an alert right after the Chhattisgarh operation was started.
In a high-level review meeting held to assess the state’s preparedness, chief minister Naveen Patnaik asked superintendent of polices (SPs) based in Maoist-prone districts to intensify patrolling, especially around border areas.
Director of state intelligence department Prakash Mishra said that security was tightened at the borders immediately afterwards.
“According to Union government plan, most states are jointly operating to end the Maoist problem. According to the Centre’s directive the BSF, the CRPF and the states’ police forces will take steps to jointly combat the problem,” he said.
Currently Orissa has four battalions of Central forces to tackle rebels’ activities in 17 districts.
The chief minister in a letter to the Union home minister P. Chidambaram yesterday asked for seven more battalions of paramilitary forces.
A fierce gun-battle is still going on between security forces and rebels in Dantewada of Chhattisgarh in what is being touted as the biggest confrontation between rebels and jawans so far, with nearly 800 jawans involved in the Green Hunt.
As many as 50 Maoists and 20 jawans are feared to have been killed in the fight.
Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090921/jsp/nation/story_11520422.jsp
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