If CRPF keeps getting ambushed,what can we do: Chhattisgarh DGP

The DGP made the remarks a day after Union Home Minister P Chidambaram asked state governments to revisit plans relating to deployment of Central forces and suggested that the CRPF be limited to executing specific operational objectives rather than routine functions.

Stating that the Chhattisgarh police would submit a detailed report to the Union Home Ministry regarding the circumstances that led to the incident,Vishwaranjan said police had information that 11 Maoists were killed in the encounter that followed the ambush at Dhaudai in Narayanpur district.

In New Delhi,Home Ministry sources said there were indications that the ROP (road opening party) had failed to stick to standard operating procedures. These personnel,the sources said,appeared to have violated basic SOPs by repeatedly using the same route for their movements. The fact that they were bunched together in a big group made them an easy target.

After the Raipur meeting,Chhattisgarh Home Minister Nankiram Kanwar said police and other security personnel were redrawing the strategy to take on the Maoists. “The focus of the new strategy is Maro Nahi,Maaro — don’t get killed; just go for the kill,” he said.

Meanwhile,armed Maoists today made an unsuccessful attempt to come close to a BSF camp at Udanpur in Kanker district where about 80 securitymen were present. Police said the Maoists opened fire in an area close to the BSF camp. The securitymen returned fire and the Maoists later retreated into the forests,police said.

There are indications that the state police and CRPF might agree on a plan for “logical re-deployment” of Central forces within the state in order to ensure that a particular unit doesn’t remain stationed in a remote or interior location for a long period. In other words,the CRPF wants its personnel to be mostly stationed outside inaccessible locations and that the forces should be used only for executing specific operations,instead of pressing the force for routine activities.

Sources said CRPF DG Vikram Shrivastava,who had detailed discussions with senior state government officials,had raised these issues and stuck to this position regarding deployment of CRPF personnel,particularly in the troubled Bastar region.

In New Delhi,the Home Ministry decided to start the “redeployment” process from Chhattisgarh and execute it in a phased manner in the states of Jharkhand,West Bengal and Orissa in the weeks to come.

Ministry sources said Chhattisgarh had agreed to the redeployment which would start taking shape “within days”. No Central force would,however,be moved out of any of the affected states,the sources said.

The government also plans to reduce the distance between two CRPF posts by augmenting the number of personnel manning these posts. “The relocation of companies will be a tactical change,” an official said.

The government has decided to post four Inspectors General (Operations) of the CRPF in the states of Chhattisgarh,Jharkhand,West Bengal and Orissa to oversee operations against the Maoists.