By IANS,
Hyderabad: Security forces in states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa are coming under more attack from Maoists because the rebels enjoy considerable support among people especially tribals, feel some former police officials in Andhra Pradesh.
These officers blame the lack of development in remote tribal areas and lack of coordination between police and paramilitary forces for the rising number of attacks.
According to a former police chief, both intelligence failure as well as lack of coordination between local authorities and paramilitary forces were responsible for Tuesday’s massacre of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in Chhattisgarh.
Former director general of police P. Ramulu said local police officials should have accompanied the CRPF men in the dense forests where they had gone looking for Maoists.
“During such operations local officials should accompany the paramilitary forces to guide them and give suggestions as the forces may not be fully well-versed with local conditions and topography,” Ramulu said.
He felt that in states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa the police and security forces were coming under repeated attacks as the Maoists had considerable support among people, especially tribals.
Another former police official said Andhra Pradesh could succeed in tackling the Maoist threat as it not only used the forces, especially the anti-Maoist Greyhounds, effectively but also took up series of welfare schemes which resulted in the Maoists losing people’s support.
Ramulu, who is also a leader of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), underlines the need to take up development works in forest areas in states like Chhattisgarh.
Pointing out that there was a feeling among tribals that governments were depriving them of their rights by allotting natural resources to multinational companies, he called upon the governments in those states to take steps to address this issue.
The former police chief also found fault with the policy of the central government in dealing with Maoists. He wanted a uniform policy for the entire country.
“Different policies in different states are leading to this kind of incidents,” he said and called for a single command for the Operation Greenhunt in various states for better results.
Andhra Pradesh, a traditional stronghold of Maoists, effectively put down the threat in the last four years by eliminating over 300 guerrillas including top leaders.