“But again, most villagers are not with the Naxalites. Some who joined them are ready to desert. If proper appointments are made, if they are trained and given cellphones, they will feed us information on regular basis,” Mahato said.

Morale at Tamar has never been very high. To keep the motivation level high, senior officers were told to make regular inspections. But the last inspection by the Ranchi SSP was on August 3, 2001. When The Indian Express sought his reaction, Ranchi SSP M S Bhatia, who has won praise for trying to enforce the law in the state capital, said: “As far as the inspection is concerned, it is the duty of the SP (Rural).”

Policemen in Tamar have another problem — their jobs are not clearly defined. Told to take on the Naxals, they also have to deal with day-to-day law and order work and conduct investigations. “The sooner our job is bifurcated, the better it will be,” said one of the policemen, not willing to be named. “If the Naxals can have special squads, why can’t we?”

A Joint Task Force which would allow policemen to track down Naxals even beyond the boundaries of the state is something they are all waiting for.