Maoists working on corridor through Odisha: CRPF DG

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Sambalpur, Mar 18:

Director General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Prakash Mishra today said the Maoist activity in the neighbouring states has its impact on Odisha.

“You know about their (Maoists) activities in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. They have been trying to open a corridor for their movement from Jharkhand to Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh through Odisha. Oour mission is to foil their plans for the corridor. As Sambalpur provides a vital link to the corridor between Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, we had a meeting here to discuss our strategy on how to go about it,” Mishra told reporters after a review meeting at the district police headquarters at Sambalpur.

Apart from Sambalpur, the meeting also discussed strategies to curb Maoist activities in other western Odisha districts, Mishra said.

He also said that the Odisha Police and the CRPF personnel are working in tandem against the left-wing ultras.

Earlier in the day, Mishra visited the CRPF camp at Sunabeda in Nuapada district.

“Tourist inflow to Sunabada sanctuary has completely stopped due to Maoist activities. To restore normalcy in the area, our prime objective would be to flush out the red rebels from this area by strengthening the security. During my stint as the ADG, Intelligence in the state, the CRPF personnel were deployed in Nuapada for the first time. After they were withdrawn, the Maoists had resumed their activities in this area. However, with the deployment of the CoBRA battalion and Special Operation Group (SOG) personnel, their activities have drastically come down now,” he added.

He said CRPF personnel, as part of their civic action programme, organised an archery competition among the local tribals of Nuapada.

“There is plenty of talent in the tribal areas of the state. The most popular sport here is traditional archery. The local tribal coaches participated in this competition and imparted training to the tribal youths. We want to pick up talented archers from Nuapada and give them the opportunity to participate in the competitions at the national level by imparting them proper training,” Mishra said.

“We have initially covered periphery villages around Sunabeda. Plans are afoot to cover more villages soon,” he added.

Replying to a question on whether the CRPF has any special package for the tribals, he said it was the job of the government to decide on such things.