Centre to hold meet with 5 naxal-affected states

NEW DELHI: As the joint counter-Naxal action launched recently in Chattisgarh and Maharashtra enters a crucial stage, Union home minister P Chidambaram has convened a meeting of five affected states in Raipur on Friday to review the operational and deployment details.

The meeting — to be attended by the chief minister of Chattisgarh, Andhra home minister, chief secretary and DGP of Jharkhand, representatives of Orissa Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and the director-generals of BSF and CRPF — will fine-tune coordination between the states so as to contain the Naxalites within a limited area and prevent their flight across the state borders, possibly into Orissa.

The presence of the Jharkhand brass is essentially to gauge the response of the newly-elected Shibu Soren government to the joint anti-Naxal operations originally planned across five states, including Jharkhand. With Soren keen on a dialogue with the Maoists, the launch of operations in Jharkhand has been put on hold for now. In fact, the MHA recently even pulled out 5 CRPF battalions given to the Jharkhand for the joint action and sent them to Orissa. The latter had been asking for more Central forces to plug the possible escape routes of Maoists leading to Orissa.

Mr Chidambaram may try to impress upon Jharkhand the need for its participation in the joint counter-Naxal offensive to make it more effective. As per the original joint counter-Naxal plan, the operations were to be launched in Chaibasa region of West Singbhum district and a part of Ranchi soon after the Jharkhand polls.

The January 22 meeting is expected to review the operational strategy to push back Naxalites from the infested districts and bring in a rush of development into the “cleared” areas.

The meeting is set to be briefed on latest intelligence inputs, which warn of a possible spillover of Maoists to Orissa or beyond Gadchiroli in Maharashtra and indicate Maoist top brass’ move from the jungles to urban centres unaffected by Left-wing extremism.

The joint anti-Naxal operations, launched sometime last month, are underway in Kanker and Rajnandgaon in Chattisgarh, besides Gadchiroli in Maharashtra. Around 41 companies of BSF and ITBP, along with the Chattisgarh police, are busy clearing the two districts of Naxalites patch-by-patch, while a simultaneous crackdown is underway in neighbouring Maharashtra.