By IANS,
Raipur : Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil arrived in Chhattisgarh Sunday on a day-long visit to assess the rampant Maoist violence across the state.
Patil reached Raipur’s Mana airport by the Indian Air Force’s special aircraft. After a brief stopover, he left for the state’s southern insurgency-hit forested Dantewada and Bijapur districts. Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, Chief Minister Raman Singh and state Home Minister Ramvichar Netam accompanied him.
Patil is expected to visit one of the interior bases of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Dantewada district. He is also scheduled to hold interactions with tribal people of Dantewada and the neighbouring Bijapur district to assess the extent and impact of Maoist insurgency.
Officials say Patil’s trip to the Maoist heartland is mainly to encourage 17 CRPF battalions and thousands of state policemen locked in a long-drawn battle with the heavily armed Maoist guerrillas in the hilly terrain of the state.
Chhattisgarh accounted for 435 deaths, including about 200 of policemen, in Maoist insurgency in 2007. The total toll across the country in the Left extremist violence during the year stood at 686.