PC blames faulty CRPF deployment by state

NEW DELHI: The centre has sought to attribute the repeated killings of CRPF personnel deployed in the Maoist strongholds of Chhattisgarh to the state government’s failure to use the force judiciously by restricting it to “operational” and “development” objectives.

Drawing attention to the fact that most of the recent casualties in CRPF were suffered not while carrying out operations but during routine exercises like road-opening or area domination, Union home minister P Chidambaram said the deployment pattern for the force was decided by the state government way back in 2006 or 2007-08, when the police numbers were grossly inadequate, although some changes were made until early 2009.

“The areas where the recent attacks on CRPF have taken place, Bastar, Narayanpur, Dantewada and Bijapur, are the most difficult areas...one can expect that Naxalites would attack the forces here,” he pointed out adding that this had only made the force personnel sitting ducks while keeping them out of active operations.

Joint operations involving the state police and central forces like BSF and ITBP are currently underway in northern districts like Kanker and Rajnandgaon.

With the police strength in Chhattisgarh having improved considerably on account of fresh recruitment and filling up of vacancies, the Centre feels it is now time to replace the CRPF in the Naxal pocketboroughs, where it was basically filling in for the state police, with regular policemen.

The CRPF men must be redeployed back to duties that involve active anti-Naxal operations or securing development initiatives. “We are asking the state government to revise each deployment of CRPF as per operational objectives of 2010. My view is that they should be redeployed where operations are on...the CRPF should be operate in a grid formation,” Mr Chidambaram said.

While recalling that he had already proposed this review of CRPF deployment during his recent visits to Raipur, the minister suggested that the continuing massacre of CRPF men while on non-operational duties in the Maoist strongholds had repeatedly underlined the need for the state government to revisit the deployment patterns.

“I have already spoken to the chief minister and told him that some of these CRPF deployments (in the most vulnerable areas) must be revisited..He will be holding discussions with the CPMFs and state police in this regard,” the home minister told newspersons.

While expressing his grief over the latest Naxal attack that killed 27 CRPF personnel and injured 8, Mr Chidambaram said he was awaiting the report of the force DG, Mr Vikram Srivastava, who visited the spot, on whether any standard operating procedures were violated by the road-opening party that fell to Naxalite bullets while on its way back to the camp.

He also recalled that based on the recommendations of the E N Rammohan committee report, the MHA had issued instructions to the Central forces and the state police some time back to “scrupulously follow the SOPs.”