By IANS
Hyderabad : Maoist violence in Andhra Pradesh saw a 42 percent decline in 2007 from last year to touch its lowest ebb ever, a top police official said here Saturday.
Director General of Police S.S.P. Yadav told reporters in a year-end press meet that the total loss of life on account of Maoist attacks on both sides – Maoists and police – had come down from 194 in 2006 to 87 during 2007.
“The people at large are heaving a sigh of relief from this menace which has been haunting every one in the state for the last four decades,” he said.
In 2007, 40 civilians, four policemen and 43 extremists died in 124 incidents, a decline of 42 percent compared to the last year, he said.
The Maoist cadre strength has come down by nearly 50 percent, from 850 to approximately 400, the police chief said.
“Maoists have become weak and are not getting any support from the villagers. I pay my gratitude to the people who have not been giving any support to the unlawful elements,” Yadav said.
He claimed that nearly 80 percent of the Maoist cadre in Andhra Pradesh state committee area had been neutralized. He said 1,061 extremists were arrested and 119 surrendered and 43 died during 46 exchanges of fire during in 2007.
Several top Maoist leaders were killed in gun battles while another top leader and Nallamalla forest division committee secretary Nagi Reddy alias Sagar was arrested earlier this month.
More than 6,000 people have been killed in Maoist violence in the state since 1969, when Srikakulam district witnessed the first armed uprising.
The state has been a traditional stronghold of Maoists. It was in early 1980s that Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist People’s War Group (PWG) was formed. The dreaded of the Maoist outfit was active till 2005 when it merged with Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) of Bihar to form CPI (Maoist), the most powerful Maoist outfit in the country.