Centre agrees to Maharashtra demand to let CRPF stay in Naxal district

NEW DELHI: Giving into the demands of Maharashtra, the NDA government is learnt to have decided not to replace CRPF from the Naxal hotbed of Gadchiroli.

UPA government had proposed to replace 5 battalions of CRPF with ITBP, another central force and redeploy them at Bijapur and Dantewada in Chhattisgarh, which are considered to be worst affected by left wing extremism.

The move was first opposed by the State government and police saying it would lead to multiplicity of commands and derail the operations that were being carried out with CRPF and the new force will take time to get acclimatized with the terrain, local population and the problem.

Home Ministry under UPA were of the opinion that CRPF should take more challenging assignment in Chhattisgarh since Gadchiroli has largely remained free of incidents and State police is now in control of the Naxal affected area.

The government while deciding to continue with CRPF deployment in Gadchiroli also cited the example of Chhattisgarh where ITBP and BSF are deployed but are facing the problem of multiplicity of command.

It was also argued that the CRPF has developed its own intelligence gathering mechanism involving locals and police that has helped to bring down the incidents of violence.

“A new force will require setting up its mechanism that may take time and also give opportunity to dormant forces to take control of the region. The gains can be frittered away due to this change in force,” explained a senior government official.

ITBP which is mainly manning the Indo-China border however feel that deployment in Gadhchiroli would have given them an exposure.