Satyasundar Barik
If the mining operations are below capacity, it would affect refinery output
DAMANJODI (ORISSA): National Aluminium Company (Nalco) on Monday expressed fears that its alumina production might come down by 35 per cent following a drop in bauxite supply from its Panchpatmali mines in the aftermath of the Maoist attack.
Addressing visiting reporters at the mining site, Nalco General Manager (Mines) A. Chakraborty said production had gone down by 35.71 per cent to 9,000 tonnes from 14,000 tonnes a day in the last 13 days. The mining operations came to a grinding halt for nine days after Maoists staged attack on the Panchpatmali mines on April 12. The General Manager said that if the mining operations continued below the capacity level, it would surely affect refinery production.
Nalco refinery produces about 4,500 tonnes of alumina a day by using about 14,000 tonnes of bauxite from the Panchpatmali site.
Nalco Chairman and Managing Director C. R. Pradhan reviewed the situation by holding meetings with workers and officials here. The CMD had given his consent to make adjustments in the working hours to maintain the production level at the site, Mr. Chakraborty said.
As per the immediate plan, three shifts of operation had been converted into two shifts.
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Maoists inch towards their goal
If Nandigram and Singur have leapt into fame or notoriety as a symbol of the Bengal Marxists’ war against poor farmers in the name of development, the Lok Sabha polls have thrown up another part of the state ~ the Purlia-Bankura-Midnapore belt ~ as a testimony to the raw deal the Marxists have given to the rural poor all these years.
If Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress-led Opposition is responsible for turning the first two places into what they now stand for, it is, by a queer coincidence, Rahul Gandhi and the Maoists who have brought Purulia and its adjoining areas into sharp focus.
Rahul Gandhi ranked Purulia as worse than Kalahandi (the ultimate metaphor for starvation and squalor) in terms of poverty index and the Marxists didn’t waste a minute to pillory him and laugh him out of court. CPI-M state secretary Biman Bose took pains to collect information about Mr Gandhi’s stay in Purulia, minute by minute, to demonstrate the impossibility of passing such a scandalously negative judgment on Purulia after having been there for a brief while.
Mr Gandhi’s blow was so stunning and unexpected that the CPI-M was initially found to be without words. It took 48 hours for its state secretary to collect data about his movement in Purulia before he could launch into one more inane propaganda exercise to remind the people what the Congress couldn’t do for Purulia during its tenure till 1977 and what the Marxists did for the uplift of Purulia’s poor during its 32-year rule.
Mr Bose recounted that Mr Gandhi had alighted at a helipad, I km from the venue of his election meeting, and spoke for 12 minutes. Hence, he argued, it’s not possible for him to understand the problems of Purulia which has 20 blocks and 170 gram panchayats. Mr Gandhi, he concluded, spoke on the basis of wrong briefing. In fact, he said with a tone of finality, Purulia is far better than his Lok Sabha constituency, Amethi.
Such political rhetoric during election time is only natural. But the Marxists have long adopted an ostrich-like policy so as not to see the colossal neglect of the rural poor and the endemic corruption among its party functionaries at different levels who have become party card holders only for cornering the privileges of power.
The non-partisan people of the state don’t need a Rahul or a Sonia Gandhi to enlighten them about the deprivations and abject poverty that the Marxists have left the rural population in, particularly in the Purulia-Bankura-Midnapore belt and the tea garden areas of the Terai-Dooars region. Starvation deaths in Amlasol and the tea gardens are only recent examples.
What the Gandhis and later Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stated about the Left during electioneering in the state has added a new dimension to the expose of Marxists’ misrule.
If one accepts the Marxists’ charge that Amlasol is a gross exaggeration and a canard against them, why is it then that the Maoists are thriving in the Purulia-Bankura-Midnapore belt?
The Maoists’ penetration and consolidation in these areas have assumed such proportions that they first triggered a landmine blast on the convoy route of the chief minister and two Central ministers and then followed it up with a largely successful poll boycott call in 18 police station areas and one more landmine blast killing three polling personnel at a time when security presence in the zone was the maximum that the administration could provide!
The heartrending spectacle of the elder brother of one of the victims wailing and holding the state chief electoral officer and home secretary responsible for the deaths, as the latter had assured the polling personnel of adequate protection, should shock the conscience of the Marxists ruling the state. The distraught, inconsolable brother asked who would look after the two children of the victim and why there were no police or security personnel near the mutilated body hours after the blast.
Surely, the CPI-M would once again launch one more propaganda onslaught against the Maoists’ cult of violence as they have all along been doing without addressing the root of the trouble ~ poverty.
Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee can only pound his fist on the podium during electioneering and call the Maoists “cowards and devils who kill people in the darkness of night and then escape in the jungles of Jharkhand.”
The plain truth is the Maoists are ominously inching towards their goal of carving out a corridor from Nepal to Andhra Pradesh via Purulia-Bankura-Midnapore. Nandigram, Singur and the poverty in Purulia and adjoining districts have only propelled them to enlist the support of the poor whom Rahul Gandhi equates with the skin-and-bone destitutes of Kalahandi.
Neither the chief minister nor his party colleagues can get away by merely alleging a nexus between the Maoists and Trinamul or wishing away the growing influence of the Maoists in those areas. For, without the support of the people the Maoists wouldn’t have been able to detonate landmines on the chief minister’s convoy route and later on polling personnel.
If the Maoists exploit the abject poverty and the administrative excess on the poor to get entrenched, the fault lies with the Left rulers far more than with anyone else.
All these years, the chief minister and other CPI-M leaders were pretending that the Maoists operating in the state had no popular support and were merely armed brigands from Andhra Pradesh targeting only CPI-M cadres at the behest of right reactionaries. They believed their task ended by mouthing such rhetorical froth.
The rot that has set in the CPI-M and a heavily politicised administration it controls to further its agenda of loot is far too deep and the situation is doomed to drift away.
(The writer is Special Representative, The Statesman, Kolkata)
If Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress-led Opposition is responsible for turning the first two places into what they now stand for, it is, by a queer coincidence, Rahul Gandhi and the Maoists who have brought Purulia and its adjoining areas into sharp focus.
Rahul Gandhi ranked Purulia as worse than Kalahandi (the ultimate metaphor for starvation and squalor) in terms of poverty index and the Marxists didn’t waste a minute to pillory him and laugh him out of court. CPI-M state secretary Biman Bose took pains to collect information about Mr Gandhi’s stay in Purulia, minute by minute, to demonstrate the impossibility of passing such a scandalously negative judgment on Purulia after having been there for a brief while.
Mr Gandhi’s blow was so stunning and unexpected that the CPI-M was initially found to be without words. It took 48 hours for its state secretary to collect data about his movement in Purulia before he could launch into one more inane propaganda exercise to remind the people what the Congress couldn’t do for Purulia during its tenure till 1977 and what the Marxists did for the uplift of Purulia’s poor during its 32-year rule.
Mr Bose recounted that Mr Gandhi had alighted at a helipad, I km from the venue of his election meeting, and spoke for 12 minutes. Hence, he argued, it’s not possible for him to understand the problems of Purulia which has 20 blocks and 170 gram panchayats. Mr Gandhi, he concluded, spoke on the basis of wrong briefing. In fact, he said with a tone of finality, Purulia is far better than his Lok Sabha constituency, Amethi.
Such political rhetoric during election time is only natural. But the Marxists have long adopted an ostrich-like policy so as not to see the colossal neglect of the rural poor and the endemic corruption among its party functionaries at different levels who have become party card holders only for cornering the privileges of power.
The non-partisan people of the state don’t need a Rahul or a Sonia Gandhi to enlighten them about the deprivations and abject poverty that the Marxists have left the rural population in, particularly in the Purulia-Bankura-Midnapore belt and the tea garden areas of the Terai-Dooars region. Starvation deaths in Amlasol and the tea gardens are only recent examples.
What the Gandhis and later Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stated about the Left during electioneering in the state has added a new dimension to the expose of Marxists’ misrule.
If one accepts the Marxists’ charge that Amlasol is a gross exaggeration and a canard against them, why is it then that the Maoists are thriving in the Purulia-Bankura-Midnapore belt?
The Maoists’ penetration and consolidation in these areas have assumed such proportions that they first triggered a landmine blast on the convoy route of the chief minister and two Central ministers and then followed it up with a largely successful poll boycott call in 18 police station areas and one more landmine blast killing three polling personnel at a time when security presence in the zone was the maximum that the administration could provide!
The heartrending spectacle of the elder brother of one of the victims wailing and holding the state chief electoral officer and home secretary responsible for the deaths, as the latter had assured the polling personnel of adequate protection, should shock the conscience of the Marxists ruling the state. The distraught, inconsolable brother asked who would look after the two children of the victim and why there were no police or security personnel near the mutilated body hours after the blast.
Surely, the CPI-M would once again launch one more propaganda onslaught against the Maoists’ cult of violence as they have all along been doing without addressing the root of the trouble ~ poverty.
Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee can only pound his fist on the podium during electioneering and call the Maoists “cowards and devils who kill people in the darkness of night and then escape in the jungles of Jharkhand.”
The plain truth is the Maoists are ominously inching towards their goal of carving out a corridor from Nepal to Andhra Pradesh via Purulia-Bankura-Midnapore. Nandigram, Singur and the poverty in Purulia and adjoining districts have only propelled them to enlist the support of the poor whom Rahul Gandhi equates with the skin-and-bone destitutes of Kalahandi.
Neither the chief minister nor his party colleagues can get away by merely alleging a nexus between the Maoists and Trinamul or wishing away the growing influence of the Maoists in those areas. For, without the support of the people the Maoists wouldn’t have been able to detonate landmines on the chief minister’s convoy route and later on polling personnel.
If the Maoists exploit the abject poverty and the administrative excess on the poor to get entrenched, the fault lies with the Left rulers far more than with anyone else.
All these years, the chief minister and other CPI-M leaders were pretending that the Maoists operating in the state had no popular support and were merely armed brigands from Andhra Pradesh targeting only CPI-M cadres at the behest of right reactionaries. They believed their task ended by mouthing such rhetorical froth.
The rot that has set in the CPI-M and a heavily politicised administration it controls to further its agenda of loot is far too deep and the situation is doomed to drift away.
(The writer is Special Representative, The Statesman, Kolkata)
Lord of the jungles
4 May 2009, 1338 hrs IST, ET Bureau
Strap: To an inadequately-equipped police force, they are the scourge of the the southern districts. But to hopelessly poor adivasis who have lived
in the area for centuries and have forever been deprived, the Maoists’ anti-establishment acts are a way of redressal of their own grievances against the administration.
"The guerrilla must move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea.": Mao Zedong
He moves through the dense jungles of Malkangiri and Koraput districts bordering Andhra Pradesh like a panther -- lean, mean and savage. The Kalashnikov-47 assault rifle slung around his shoulder, a magazine dangling carelessly at the waist and a bag of provisions on the back of his military fatigues, he moves with his followers from one scene of crime to another. He is the Sarkar, the Boss. He is also the Anna, which in Telegu means brother.
Anna is a master at guerilla warfare and he is chief of Maoist operations across the inhospitable jungles of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. His methods are characterised by lightning fast precision attacks with matching firepower on individual groups of police or para military forces, or on government or business installations that leave the administrative counter-offensive pretty flat footed.
Every operation of the Sarkar embarasses the Naveen Pattnaik government, although hundreds and thousands of Orissa’s impoverished tribals just love the action. In the wake of the formation of the CPI-Maoist in 2004, two zonal committees of the outfit have been responsible for activities inOrissa: the Andhra Orissa Bihar Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC) and the Jharkhand-Bihar-Orissa Special Zonal Committee (JBOBSZC).
These two, function in close co-ordination with the CPI-Maoist Central Committee and the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee. The AOBSZC, which covers the Maoist districts of Malkangiri, Koraput, Gajapati, Nabarangpur, Rayagada and Ganjam, has a bureaucratic organisational structure, and is divided into two bureaus. The South Bureau includes the Malkangiri Division and the North Bureau comprises the Banshadhara Division.
They have created the Orissa-West Bengal-Jharakhand Special Zone. Police sources said the Maoists have of late established Gumusur division covering Bhanjanagar, Soroda, Kotagarh, Daringibadi and G Udayagiri with an ambitious plan to create a long-term guerrilla zone. This zone is headed by Sabyasachi Panda, who is said to have masterminded the Nayagarh attacks and killing of Swami Laxmanananda last year, making international headlines.
Maoists typically function through their dalams (armed squads). In Malkangiri district, there are several dalams, including the Kalimela dalam, the Poplur dalam, the Motu dalam, the Jhanjavati dalam and the Korkonda dalam. In Rayagada district, there is the Udaya dalam among others.
These dalams recruit locals and send them to various Maoist training centres in Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The insurgents even use high-power jammers and filters to block mobile and wireless services in the Maoist "zones". They also use satellite phones.
According to a top Orissa government official : "They came earlier in hundreds. Now, if need be, they can come in thousands. Anna has emerged the saviour of adivasis who are the original inhabitants of this region. The absence of tribal-centric development, lack of governance, the laidback attitude of bureaucrats and politicians have all been responsible for creating this very complex situation. We should be prepared for a long haul."
Undoubtedly, Orissa Police lacks requisite infrastructure and manpower to check Maoists in the southern districts. State Director General of Police, Manmohan Praharaj admits: "We are handicapped by manpower shortages and infrastructure needs much improvement. We have the sanction for 2000 constables for Special Operation Group (SOG) but we can’t fill up the vacancies." What is worse, is the fact that at least 57 IPS posts remain vacant in Orissa, which has a sanctioned strength of 159 such officers.
Orissa currently requires modernisation and upgradation of the remaining 400 police stations. Orissa Police currently has over 5,000 vacancies while 5,000 more await training. "Whereas there are 142 policemen per one lakh population on average across the country, Orissa has only 102 policemen per lakh of population," Mr Praharaj said.
This casual approach towards strengthening the state’s police force has severely hamstrung counter insurgency operations. Two years ago, the state government had submitted a proposal of Rs 550 crore to the Centre for overall development of districts affected by insurgency and government circles say that the state will prefer to continue with its strategy of giving priority to developmental issues rather than strengthening its police force. "We plan to ensure rural connectivity, health facilities and employment in tribal-dominated districts where Maoists lure people to their groups," a top government official said. Officials feel that if the corridor passing through the Maoist-affected states of Jharkhand, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh is constructed, it would usher in economic development in the region and reduce the intensity of ultra Left Wing extremism.
That is all very well, except that vis-a-vis the needs, nothing much of development ever seems to happen.
Strap: To an inadequately-equipped police force, they are the scourge of the the southern districts. But to hopelessly poor adivasis who have lived
in the area for centuries and have forever been deprived, the Maoists’ anti-establishment acts are a way of redressal of their own grievances against the administration.
"The guerrilla must move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea.": Mao Zedong
He moves through the dense jungles of Malkangiri and Koraput districts bordering Andhra Pradesh like a panther -- lean, mean and savage. The Kalashnikov-47 assault rifle slung around his shoulder, a magazine dangling carelessly at the waist and a bag of provisions on the back of his military fatigues, he moves with his followers from one scene of crime to another. He is the Sarkar, the Boss. He is also the Anna, which in Telegu means brother.
Anna is a master at guerilla warfare and he is chief of Maoist operations across the inhospitable jungles of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. His methods are characterised by lightning fast precision attacks with matching firepower on individual groups of police or para military forces, or on government or business installations that leave the administrative counter-offensive pretty flat footed.
Every operation of the Sarkar embarasses the Naveen Pattnaik government, although hundreds and thousands of Orissa’s impoverished tribals just love the action. In the wake of the formation of the CPI-Maoist in 2004, two zonal committees of the outfit have been responsible for activities inOrissa: the Andhra Orissa Bihar Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC) and the Jharkhand-Bihar-Orissa Special Zonal Committee (JBOBSZC).
These two, function in close co-ordination with the CPI-Maoist Central Committee and the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee. The AOBSZC, which covers the Maoist districts of Malkangiri, Koraput, Gajapati, Nabarangpur, Rayagada and Ganjam, has a bureaucratic organisational structure, and is divided into two bureaus. The South Bureau includes the Malkangiri Division and the North Bureau comprises the Banshadhara Division.
They have created the Orissa-West Bengal-Jharakhand Special Zone. Police sources said the Maoists have of late established Gumusur division covering Bhanjanagar, Soroda, Kotagarh, Daringibadi and G Udayagiri with an ambitious plan to create a long-term guerrilla zone. This zone is headed by Sabyasachi Panda, who is said to have masterminded the Nayagarh attacks and killing of Swami Laxmanananda last year, making international headlines.
Maoists typically function through their dalams (armed squads). In Malkangiri district, there are several dalams, including the Kalimela dalam, the Poplur dalam, the Motu dalam, the Jhanjavati dalam and the Korkonda dalam. In Rayagada district, there is the Udaya dalam among others.
These dalams recruit locals and send them to various Maoist training centres in Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The insurgents even use high-power jammers and filters to block mobile and wireless services in the Maoist "zones". They also use satellite phones.
According to a top Orissa government official : "They came earlier in hundreds. Now, if need be, they can come in thousands. Anna has emerged the saviour of adivasis who are the original inhabitants of this region. The absence of tribal-centric development, lack of governance, the laidback attitude of bureaucrats and politicians have all been responsible for creating this very complex situation. We should be prepared for a long haul."
Undoubtedly, Orissa Police lacks requisite infrastructure and manpower to check Maoists in the southern districts. State Director General of Police, Manmohan Praharaj admits: "We are handicapped by manpower shortages and infrastructure needs much improvement. We have the sanction for 2000 constables for Special Operation Group (SOG) but we can’t fill up the vacancies." What is worse, is the fact that at least 57 IPS posts remain vacant in Orissa, which has a sanctioned strength of 159 such officers.
Orissa currently requires modernisation and upgradation of the remaining 400 police stations. Orissa Police currently has over 5,000 vacancies while 5,000 more await training. "Whereas there are 142 policemen per one lakh population on average across the country, Orissa has only 102 policemen per lakh of population," Mr Praharaj said.
This casual approach towards strengthening the state’s police force has severely hamstrung counter insurgency operations. Two years ago, the state government had submitted a proposal of Rs 550 crore to the Centre for overall development of districts affected by insurgency and government circles say that the state will prefer to continue with its strategy of giving priority to developmental issues rather than strengthening its police force. "We plan to ensure rural connectivity, health facilities and employment in tribal-dominated districts where Maoists lure people to their groups," a top government official said. Officials feel that if the corridor passing through the Maoist-affected states of Jharkhand, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh is constructed, it would usher in economic development in the region and reduce the intensity of ultra Left Wing extremism.
That is all very well, except that vis-a-vis the needs, nothing much of development ever seems to happen.
Maoists hold industry at gunpoint
4 May 2009, 1343 hrs IST, ET Bureau
To them, corporates are evil, period! Even the country’s largest aluminium maker and Orissa’s pride, Nalco is seen as an MNC that is out to exploit
the state’s mineral reserves for the benefit of the rich.
And to prove this, they managed to effortlessly seize Nalco’s famed Damanjodi bauxite mine on April 12 night for eight long hours. The ease with which the Maoists staged an operation of this magnitude — and at a time when security has been tightened for the general elections — has sent shockwaves across India Inc and driven home yet again that it is the writ of the Maoists, and not the government’s, that runs in this part of the country.
In a written statement in Telugu (a copy of which is with ET) issued on Thursday, the Andhra Orissa Boarder Special Zonal Committee, state military commission of CPI (Maoist) has said: "This is just the beginning and other plants coming up should take note of the raid on Nalco. We will continue such raids. We are opposed to the displacement of tribals by the government. We extend our cooperation to the people of Kashipur, Kalinga Nagar, Singur, the entire eastern Coastal Corridor covering bauxite mining and processing plants proposed in the Eastern Ghats.
"In the (Nalco) operation, we lost 4 members, 3 from Dantewada and one from AP. On the other side, they lost 11 constables while 9 others sustained serious injuries. We seized sophisticated weaponry and two tons of explosive material. While the war was continuing, some constables surrendered before us. On purely humanitarian grounds, we let them off. This proves our courageous fight with the armed constabulary," the statement added.
At the 9th Congress in January-February 2007, the Maoists had asked all "forest dwellers to resist till the end, the massive displacement taking place and to protect their land and forests from robbers and looters."
Small wonder then that after years of low intensity warfare, even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recognises them as the "single biggest internal security challenge." Emerging stronger in Orissa, Maoists have now started targeting top corporates, which together have submitted investment proposals of a whopping Rs 6 lakh crore. A few large ventures on the cards include Posco’s 12 million tonnes Paradip Steel Plant, ArcelorMittal’s 12 million tonne steel plant in Keonjhar, Tata Steel’s six million tonne steel project at Kalinga Nagar, as well as other mining and large enterprises.
Maoists maintain that government policies will lead to further marginalisation of tribals and forest dwellers in the Orissa and it is a well-known fact that industrialisation on this scale will inevitably lead to massive displacement of resident population in those areas.
Guru Mohanty, senior lawyer and Peoples’ Union of Civil Liberties secretary who had volunteered to hold talks with Maoists said : "When the central government speaks of Maoists obstructing development such as in tribal areas, it means that Maoists’ presence obstructs corporate exploitation of minerals, forests, water and land resources of adivasis. Corporations come with capital intensive, low job creating investments, which entail import of skilled labour from outside and token employment for locals as members of an unskilled low wage labour force."
Incidentally, Mohanty has been closely monitoring resistance movements in the state right from the days of Baliapal, the Balco agitation to recent ones against displacement in Kalinga Nagar, Kashipur and Jagatsinghpur.
"People are unwilling to give up their land to MNCs as they have seen their brothers and sisters turn to begging or pulling rickshaws in neighbouring states after handing over their land to industries that had come up earlier in the region," he said.
Maoists had infiltrated even in the area where the Posco investment is due to come up. Undeterred by what is touted as the largest FDI investment in the country, Maoists had successfully orchestrated a revolt by uniting locals. Police, however, claimed that the protesters have been driven out and their leaders arrested. Maoist frontal organisations are also currently opposing the Tata Steel project in the Kalinga Nagar area of Jajpur District.
Between the two extremes of justifying war and abhorring it, there lies in the ultimate analysis, a zone of social reality. As in Orissa, so in Jharkhand, Bihar and somewhat in West Bengal too, the Maoist menace has been largely seen by the administration as evil. Might has been used to combat might. The underlying picture, however, is the same everywhere. Maoists have taken root in precisely those areas that have been long neglected by the administration. Whether in West Bengal’s Purulia district or the tribal areas of Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa, near inhuman poverty has been allowed to thrive through the decades, while successive governments irrespective of party colour, have remained content doing lip service. The centuries’ old resident population in these areas therefore do not quite think of the Maoists as evil. The Maoist movement therefore grows with local help. Much therefore will hinge on future policies that can ensure the resident population in these areas a life that has dignity and freedom.
To them, corporates are evil, period! Even the country’s largest aluminium maker and Orissa’s pride, Nalco is seen as an MNC that is out to exploit
the state’s mineral reserves for the benefit of the rich.
And to prove this, they managed to effortlessly seize Nalco’s famed Damanjodi bauxite mine on April 12 night for eight long hours. The ease with which the Maoists staged an operation of this magnitude — and at a time when security has been tightened for the general elections — has sent shockwaves across India Inc and driven home yet again that it is the writ of the Maoists, and not the government’s, that runs in this part of the country.
In a written statement in Telugu (a copy of which is with ET) issued on Thursday, the Andhra Orissa Boarder Special Zonal Committee, state military commission of CPI (Maoist) has said: "This is just the beginning and other plants coming up should take note of the raid on Nalco. We will continue such raids. We are opposed to the displacement of tribals by the government. We extend our cooperation to the people of Kashipur, Kalinga Nagar, Singur, the entire eastern Coastal Corridor covering bauxite mining and processing plants proposed in the Eastern Ghats.
"In the (Nalco) operation, we lost 4 members, 3 from Dantewada and one from AP. On the other side, they lost 11 constables while 9 others sustained serious injuries. We seized sophisticated weaponry and two tons of explosive material. While the war was continuing, some constables surrendered before us. On purely humanitarian grounds, we let them off. This proves our courageous fight with the armed constabulary," the statement added.
At the 9th Congress in January-February 2007, the Maoists had asked all "forest dwellers to resist till the end, the massive displacement taking place and to protect their land and forests from robbers and looters."
Small wonder then that after years of low intensity warfare, even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recognises them as the "single biggest internal security challenge." Emerging stronger in Orissa, Maoists have now started targeting top corporates, which together have submitted investment proposals of a whopping Rs 6 lakh crore. A few large ventures on the cards include Posco’s 12 million tonnes Paradip Steel Plant, ArcelorMittal’s 12 million tonne steel plant in Keonjhar, Tata Steel’s six million tonne steel project at Kalinga Nagar, as well as other mining and large enterprises.
Maoists maintain that government policies will lead to further marginalisation of tribals and forest dwellers in the Orissa and it is a well-known fact that industrialisation on this scale will inevitably lead to massive displacement of resident population in those areas.
Guru Mohanty, senior lawyer and Peoples’ Union of Civil Liberties secretary who had volunteered to hold talks with Maoists said : "When the central government speaks of Maoists obstructing development such as in tribal areas, it means that Maoists’ presence obstructs corporate exploitation of minerals, forests, water and land resources of adivasis. Corporations come with capital intensive, low job creating investments, which entail import of skilled labour from outside and token employment for locals as members of an unskilled low wage labour force."
Incidentally, Mohanty has been closely monitoring resistance movements in the state right from the days of Baliapal, the Balco agitation to recent ones against displacement in Kalinga Nagar, Kashipur and Jagatsinghpur.
"People are unwilling to give up their land to MNCs as they have seen their brothers and sisters turn to begging or pulling rickshaws in neighbouring states after handing over their land to industries that had come up earlier in the region," he said.
Maoists had infiltrated even in the area where the Posco investment is due to come up. Undeterred by what is touted as the largest FDI investment in the country, Maoists had successfully orchestrated a revolt by uniting locals. Police, however, claimed that the protesters have been driven out and their leaders arrested. Maoist frontal organisations are also currently opposing the Tata Steel project in the Kalinga Nagar area of Jajpur District.
Between the two extremes of justifying war and abhorring it, there lies in the ultimate analysis, a zone of social reality. As in Orissa, so in Jharkhand, Bihar and somewhat in West Bengal too, the Maoist menace has been largely seen by the administration as evil. Might has been used to combat might. The underlying picture, however, is the same everywhere. Maoists have taken root in precisely those areas that have been long neglected by the administration. Whether in West Bengal’s Purulia district or the tribal areas of Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa, near inhuman poverty has been allowed to thrive through the decades, while successive governments irrespective of party colour, have remained content doing lip service. The centuries’ old resident population in these areas therefore do not quite think of the Maoists as evil. The Maoist movement therefore grows with local help. Much therefore will hinge on future policies that can ensure the resident population in these areas a life that has dignity and freedom.
Naxalites blow up culvert ahead of repolling in Bihar
Press Trust of India / Aurangabad (bihar) May 5, 2009, 13:37 IST
Naxalites blew up a culvert connecting a polling booth in the district just before repolling for the Lok Sabha elections started there today, police said.
The naxalites, who have given a poll boycott call, blew up the culvert connecting booth number 207 at a middle school in Deora village under Aurangabad Lok Sabha seat and placed a land mine at the gate of the booth, police said. The landmine was later defused by the security personnel.
Fearing more such mines on premises, the authorities shifted the repolling venue under a tree outside the school building.
Repolling in 75 booths that went to the hustings in the first phase on April 16 are being held today. The booths comprise 21 in Jehanabad, 18 in Aurangabad, 16 in Nawada, 6 in Saran, 5 in Maharajganj, 4 in Karakat, 3 in Jamui and two in Buxar.
Election office sources said that repolling at other places was peaceful so far.
Naxalites blew up a culvert connecting a polling booth in the district just before repolling for the Lok Sabha elections started there today, police said.
The naxalites, who have given a poll boycott call, blew up the culvert connecting booth number 207 at a middle school in Deora village under Aurangabad Lok Sabha seat and placed a land mine at the gate of the booth, police said. The landmine was later defused by the security personnel.
Fearing more such mines on premises, the authorities shifted the repolling venue under a tree outside the school building.
Repolling in 75 booths that went to the hustings in the first phase on April 16 are being held today. The booths comprise 21 in Jehanabad, 18 in Aurangabad, 16 in Nawada, 6 in Saran, 5 in Maharajganj, 4 in Karakat, 3 in Jamui and two in Buxar.
Election office sources said that repolling at other places was peaceful so far.
Throne Of Blood: Maoists' threat in Orissa
4 May 2009, 1341 hrs IST, ET Bureau
Strap: In 261 BC Emperor Ashoka invaded Kalinga, an event that was a watershed in world history. Thereafter, Orissa has been attacked innumerable
times by aspiring emperors, kings and ganglords, but has never lost its identity. In this concluding part of the ET series on Terror in the eastern states, Nageshwar Patnaik takes a look at Orissa’s latest factory-fresh tormentors, the Maoists, who threaten to challenge the sovereignty of the state...
Back in 1931, a young Mao Zedong stole into the heart of China’s remote Jinggang mountains to orchestrate Spanish guerrilla-like operations by his famed Red Guard. He would eventually go on to lead the Communist Party of China (CPC) to victory in a historic civil war and become the epicentre of power in China. Much later and during his last days in hospital in September 1976, Mao was as much aware perhaps of approaching Death as he was of the rising discord against his rule. In the post-Mao phase, China went through an epic catharsis that perhaps culminated in the Shanghai government issuing new history textbooks in 2006, that omit Mao almost altogether.
Nonetheless, Maoism and more specially his military writings continue to influence ultra Communists across the world, from Cambodia and Peru to Nepal and more recently, to the heartland of India, where insurgents take his name to spread terror throughout Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, where the southern and north-western districts are almost entirely in their grip.
For one, the total number of districts in the Maoist loop in Orissa has nearly doubled in less than three years. Back in June 2006, only 14 of Orissa’s 30 districts were stung by Maoist strikes. Today, as many as 22 districts are vulnerable to Maoist violence and the number is growing, according to latest intelligence feeds.
Six south-western districts — Malkangiri, Koraput, Raygada, Kandhamal, Nayagarh and Gajapati — accounted for a whopping 60% of all incidents in calender 2008. And if these reports are true, these mercenaries are silently penetrating into urban centres by wooing the college grad and the Genext to their cause.
The Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management also confirms that the total number of Maoist incidents in Orissa nearly doubled to 129 in calender 2008 from 67 in the earlier year. While the total number of fatalities suffered by securitymen shot up to 76 from a mere two in 2007.
Back in June 2006, the Naveen Patnaik government retaliated against the Maoist menace by banning the CPI (Maoist) and even declaring seven of its front organisations unlawful.
But a mere ban perhaps will no longer wash with the public or business houses operating in Orissa as the overwhelming nature of the threat literally burst to the fore after April 12’s unprecedented siege by a 200-strong Maoist gang at Nalco’s bauxite mines in Damanjodi, which houses Asia’s largest bauxite reserves.
At the root of the malady are the continuing socio-economic woes of the tribal flock who lie scattered among the state’s densely forested southern districts with hardly anything to eat. If anything, Maoists have managed to derive maximum mileage by playing the poverty card and capitalising on the deep sense of alienation that runs through the heart of tribal Orissa.
The Maoist threat to the economy is particularly huge since Orissa is a Fifth Schedule state with a high concentration of tribals inhabiting the hills and forest tracts, where most of the mines, dams, factories and other mega projects are also located.
State circles privately concede that alienation of tribal land perhaps is the single biggest reason behind the dismal economic lot of the state’s tribal community. Land lost is often the most productive kind, leaving the tribals with scarcely any option but to till low grade land that is vulnerable to the vagaries of weather. So much so that land transfers have wreaked havoc on an already fragile tribal economy and to compound matters, the massive inward migration of non-tribals has altered the land ownership matrix in Scheduled Areas, much to the disadvantage of the tribals.
State government circles seem flummoxed specially since Maoists have actually managed to create an exclusive jungle corridor between Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to facilitate rapid movement. Orissa’s principal secretary (home) AP Padhi confirms this. "Most Maoists active here are from outside the state, largely operating in the districts bordering Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. They invariably exploit the advantages of the inhospitable hilly terrain to launch their attacks. Lately, their mission is to stall all development activities in the state, be it construction of roads, buildings or tanks. Our Special Operations Group is doing its best to acquainted with the region and flush them out," he says.
But in the same breath, Mr Padhi concedes that "the governance failure coupled with the lack of development in the backward zones has stoked Maoist intrusion" in a large number of areas across Orissa."
For one, Maoist bands have managed to brazenly cash-in on the vacuum created by functional inadequacy of field level governance structures and take advantage of the deep dissatisfaction and feeling of neglect that is palpable across the underprivileged and remote segments of Orissa’s population.
However, state officials also assert that the Maoists, while playing the poor man’s ally, are leaving no stone unturned to prevent execution of mega development projects, be it linked to critical infrastructure like the railways, roads, power and telecommunications.
"And their modus operandi is invariably a deadly blend of terror and violence. Nor surprisingly, prevailing governance structures at the field level in these sensitive pockets are shown as ineffective," points out a state official.
According to the Planning Commission, the "incidence of poverty among the tribal population is nearly twice that of others in Orissa." And the incidence and persistence of poverty is even higher in southern Orissa, which comprises the Kandhamal, Gajapati, Koraput, Balangir and Kalahandi (KBK) districts. These southern districts have remained underdeveloped largely due to a mix of lack of political involvement and bureaucratic apathy.
The much touted ‘inclusive development’ has also remained a distant thought. The situation in southern Orissa is even worse with nearly 87% of the Scheduled Tribes living below poverty line, and the socio-economic indicators in some pockets is ever worse than in sub-Saharan Africa.
"Things haven’t changed much ever since the Naxalite movement took off in 1968 in the undivided Koraput district. And tribals remain without the pattas of land they have been tilling for generations. Tortures by police and officials also continue and the tribals have no access to drinking water. In truth, they remain deprived of the fruits of development. Unless the basic issues of hunger and livelihood are addressed by the state government, the Naxal or Maoist menace will continue to haunt the region", warns Rabi Das, a former front ranking Naxal leader turned social activist.
It is in this glaring backdrop that the Naveen Patnaik government has sought to project Maoist subversion in Orissa as a spillover of the violence from its neighbouring states.
And lately, there have been reports of Maoist incidents from coastal and central districts like Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Khurda, Angul and Dhenkanal too.
Of the four high-profile Maoist strikes of 2008, three were targeted at security forces. Something that brutally exposed the failure of the intelligence and the pathetic state of the police, not to speak of the lackadaisical approach of the state government.
Besides the Damanjodi mine siege, perhaps the most serious Maoist attack was the near simultaneous raids on the District Armoury and the Police Training College at the District Headquarters town of Nayagarh, which is barely 80 km west of Bhubaneswar.
While the state police claimed to have killed three Maoists, not a single dead body was recovered. On the contrary, the Maoists managed to get away with 1,100 items of weaponry, including rifles, light machine guns, single loaded rifles, AK-47s and pistols. Four guns were also removed from each of the three police stations.
The other deadly attack transpired on June 29 when 38 securitymen, including some 36-odd belonging to the elite anti-Maoist Greyhounds from Andhra Pradesh, perished at the Chitrakonda reservoir of Malkangiri district, near the Andhra Pradesh border.
CPI-Maoist cadres had sprayed bullets from hilltops on an Andhra Pradesh-Orissa joint police party, which was returning after a combing operation based on an intelligence tipoff.
But it’s the recent Maoist strike on Nalco’s prized bauxite mines that appears to have given fresh resolve at the state level to grab the Maoist menace by the horns.
"The Maoist attack on Nalco’s bauxite mines on April 12 in which 10 securitymen were killed only confirms the sophistication of their firepower. It is evident that the Maoists have set their sights on Orissa’s prized resources and unless the government declares an all-out war on these rebels, one must be prepared for more mindless violence and bloodletting. The state government needs to plug all leakages in the development projects in the backward areas," says ex-state police chief Amiya Bhusan Tripathy without mincing words. Only time will tell the wiser.
Strap: In 261 BC Emperor Ashoka invaded Kalinga, an event that was a watershed in world history. Thereafter, Orissa has been attacked innumerable
times by aspiring emperors, kings and ganglords, but has never lost its identity. In this concluding part of the ET series on Terror in the eastern states, Nageshwar Patnaik takes a look at Orissa’s latest factory-fresh tormentors, the Maoists, who threaten to challenge the sovereignty of the state...
Back in 1931, a young Mao Zedong stole into the heart of China’s remote Jinggang mountains to orchestrate Spanish guerrilla-like operations by his famed Red Guard. He would eventually go on to lead the Communist Party of China (CPC) to victory in a historic civil war and become the epicentre of power in China. Much later and during his last days in hospital in September 1976, Mao was as much aware perhaps of approaching Death as he was of the rising discord against his rule. In the post-Mao phase, China went through an epic catharsis that perhaps culminated in the Shanghai government issuing new history textbooks in 2006, that omit Mao almost altogether.
Nonetheless, Maoism and more specially his military writings continue to influence ultra Communists across the world, from Cambodia and Peru to Nepal and more recently, to the heartland of India, where insurgents take his name to spread terror throughout Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, where the southern and north-western districts are almost entirely in their grip.
For one, the total number of districts in the Maoist loop in Orissa has nearly doubled in less than three years. Back in June 2006, only 14 of Orissa’s 30 districts were stung by Maoist strikes. Today, as many as 22 districts are vulnerable to Maoist violence and the number is growing, according to latest intelligence feeds.
Six south-western districts — Malkangiri, Koraput, Raygada, Kandhamal, Nayagarh and Gajapati — accounted for a whopping 60% of all incidents in calender 2008. And if these reports are true, these mercenaries are silently penetrating into urban centres by wooing the college grad and the Genext to their cause.
The Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management also confirms that the total number of Maoist incidents in Orissa nearly doubled to 129 in calender 2008 from 67 in the earlier year. While the total number of fatalities suffered by securitymen shot up to 76 from a mere two in 2007.
Back in June 2006, the Naveen Patnaik government retaliated against the Maoist menace by banning the CPI (Maoist) and even declaring seven of its front organisations unlawful.
But a mere ban perhaps will no longer wash with the public or business houses operating in Orissa as the overwhelming nature of the threat literally burst to the fore after April 12’s unprecedented siege by a 200-strong Maoist gang at Nalco’s bauxite mines in Damanjodi, which houses Asia’s largest bauxite reserves.
At the root of the malady are the continuing socio-economic woes of the tribal flock who lie scattered among the state’s densely forested southern districts with hardly anything to eat. If anything, Maoists have managed to derive maximum mileage by playing the poverty card and capitalising on the deep sense of alienation that runs through the heart of tribal Orissa.
The Maoist threat to the economy is particularly huge since Orissa is a Fifth Schedule state with a high concentration of tribals inhabiting the hills and forest tracts, where most of the mines, dams, factories and other mega projects are also located.
State circles privately concede that alienation of tribal land perhaps is the single biggest reason behind the dismal economic lot of the state’s tribal community. Land lost is often the most productive kind, leaving the tribals with scarcely any option but to till low grade land that is vulnerable to the vagaries of weather. So much so that land transfers have wreaked havoc on an already fragile tribal economy and to compound matters, the massive inward migration of non-tribals has altered the land ownership matrix in Scheduled Areas, much to the disadvantage of the tribals.
State government circles seem flummoxed specially since Maoists have actually managed to create an exclusive jungle corridor between Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to facilitate rapid movement. Orissa’s principal secretary (home) AP Padhi confirms this. "Most Maoists active here are from outside the state, largely operating in the districts bordering Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. They invariably exploit the advantages of the inhospitable hilly terrain to launch their attacks. Lately, their mission is to stall all development activities in the state, be it construction of roads, buildings or tanks. Our Special Operations Group is doing its best to acquainted with the region and flush them out," he says.
But in the same breath, Mr Padhi concedes that "the governance failure coupled with the lack of development in the backward zones has stoked Maoist intrusion" in a large number of areas across Orissa."
For one, Maoist bands have managed to brazenly cash-in on the vacuum created by functional inadequacy of field level governance structures and take advantage of the deep dissatisfaction and feeling of neglect that is palpable across the underprivileged and remote segments of Orissa’s population.
However, state officials also assert that the Maoists, while playing the poor man’s ally, are leaving no stone unturned to prevent execution of mega development projects, be it linked to critical infrastructure like the railways, roads, power and telecommunications.
"And their modus operandi is invariably a deadly blend of terror and violence. Nor surprisingly, prevailing governance structures at the field level in these sensitive pockets are shown as ineffective," points out a state official.
According to the Planning Commission, the "incidence of poverty among the tribal population is nearly twice that of others in Orissa." And the incidence and persistence of poverty is even higher in southern Orissa, which comprises the Kandhamal, Gajapati, Koraput, Balangir and Kalahandi (KBK) districts. These southern districts have remained underdeveloped largely due to a mix of lack of political involvement and bureaucratic apathy.
The much touted ‘inclusive development’ has also remained a distant thought. The situation in southern Orissa is even worse with nearly 87% of the Scheduled Tribes living below poverty line, and the socio-economic indicators in some pockets is ever worse than in sub-Saharan Africa.
"Things haven’t changed much ever since the Naxalite movement took off in 1968 in the undivided Koraput district. And tribals remain without the pattas of land they have been tilling for generations. Tortures by police and officials also continue and the tribals have no access to drinking water. In truth, they remain deprived of the fruits of development. Unless the basic issues of hunger and livelihood are addressed by the state government, the Naxal or Maoist menace will continue to haunt the region", warns Rabi Das, a former front ranking Naxal leader turned social activist.
It is in this glaring backdrop that the Naveen Patnaik government has sought to project Maoist subversion in Orissa as a spillover of the violence from its neighbouring states.
And lately, there have been reports of Maoist incidents from coastal and central districts like Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Khurda, Angul and Dhenkanal too.
Of the four high-profile Maoist strikes of 2008, three were targeted at security forces. Something that brutally exposed the failure of the intelligence and the pathetic state of the police, not to speak of the lackadaisical approach of the state government.
Besides the Damanjodi mine siege, perhaps the most serious Maoist attack was the near simultaneous raids on the District Armoury and the Police Training College at the District Headquarters town of Nayagarh, which is barely 80 km west of Bhubaneswar.
While the state police claimed to have killed three Maoists, not a single dead body was recovered. On the contrary, the Maoists managed to get away with 1,100 items of weaponry, including rifles, light machine guns, single loaded rifles, AK-47s and pistols. Four guns were also removed from each of the three police stations.
The other deadly attack transpired on June 29 when 38 securitymen, including some 36-odd belonging to the elite anti-Maoist Greyhounds from Andhra Pradesh, perished at the Chitrakonda reservoir of Malkangiri district, near the Andhra Pradesh border.
CPI-Maoist cadres had sprayed bullets from hilltops on an Andhra Pradesh-Orissa joint police party, which was returning after a combing operation based on an intelligence tipoff.
But it’s the recent Maoist strike on Nalco’s prized bauxite mines that appears to have given fresh resolve at the state level to grab the Maoist menace by the horns.
"The Maoist attack on Nalco’s bauxite mines on April 12 in which 10 securitymen were killed only confirms the sophistication of their firepower. It is evident that the Maoists have set their sights on Orissa’s prized resources and unless the government declares an all-out war on these rebels, one must be prepared for more mindless violence and bloodletting. The state government needs to plug all leakages in the development projects in the backward areas," says ex-state police chief Amiya Bhusan Tripathy without mincing words. Only time will tell the wiser.
Seven held in Orissa district for Maoist links
Staff Reporter
BERHAMPUR: Seven persons were arrested from different parts of Rayagada district in south Orissa for Maoist links.
Three of these arrested persons were hardcore naxals. They are Madhab Tukuruka, Jara Tukuruka, D.Tukuruka.
Speaking to The Hindu, Rayagada district Superintendent of Police Ashis Kumar Singh said it was suspected that these three naxals were involved in several major violent incidents including Maoist attacks on Nayagarh.
Police hoped that their interrogation would spill some beans regarding the Maoist activities in south Orissa.
It is also suspected that these persons may have taken part in the killing of VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati in adjoining Kandhamal district.
Two key informers of naxals Dasarathi Hikabadika and Asu Mamalka were also on the list of arrested persons. They were members of area committees of Maoists and were organising ‘praja courts’ in remote areas.
The other two persons who have been arrested for naxal links are K.M.Prasad and Dama Sambutika. These two persons were contractors who according to police had helped naxals in different incidents.
All these persons were arrested from different places during combing operation in naxal-infested areas of Gunupur, Chandrapur, Gudari areas of Rayagada district.
Mr Singh said these arrests were made on the basis of definite intelligence reports. Many hardcore naxals have been arrested in Rayagada district during last few weeks.
It may be noted that on Apr 21, four Maoists including a member of the core group that masterminded the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati in Kandhamal district were arrested in Rayagada district.
The prize catch was P.Rama Rao alias Uday, a ‘commander’ of the Basadara Dalam of the CPI-Maoist party, which is active in Rayagada, Kandhamal and Gajapati districts of south Orissa.
BERHAMPUR: Seven persons were arrested from different parts of Rayagada district in south Orissa for Maoist links.
Three of these arrested persons were hardcore naxals. They are Madhab Tukuruka, Jara Tukuruka, D.Tukuruka.
Speaking to The Hindu, Rayagada district Superintendent of Police Ashis Kumar Singh said it was suspected that these three naxals were involved in several major violent incidents including Maoist attacks on Nayagarh.
Police hoped that their interrogation would spill some beans regarding the Maoist activities in south Orissa.
It is also suspected that these persons may have taken part in the killing of VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati in adjoining Kandhamal district.
Two key informers of naxals Dasarathi Hikabadika and Asu Mamalka were also on the list of arrested persons. They were members of area committees of Maoists and were organising ‘praja courts’ in remote areas.
The other two persons who have been arrested for naxal links are K.M.Prasad and Dama Sambutika. These two persons were contractors who according to police had helped naxals in different incidents.
All these persons were arrested from different places during combing operation in naxal-infested areas of Gunupur, Chandrapur, Gudari areas of Rayagada district.
Mr Singh said these arrests were made on the basis of definite intelligence reports. Many hardcore naxals have been arrested in Rayagada district during last few weeks.
It may be noted that on Apr 21, four Maoists including a member of the core group that masterminded the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati in Kandhamal district were arrested in Rayagada district.
The prize catch was P.Rama Rao alias Uday, a ‘commander’ of the Basadara Dalam of the CPI-Maoist party, which is active in Rayagada, Kandhamal and Gajapati districts of south Orissa.
Naxals using tunnels to escape
3 May 2009, 0139 hrs IST, Soumittra S Bose, TNN
NAGPUR: Recent analysis of Naxal's combat style has revealed new methods which could prove to be a dampner to the security forces. There has been
evidence of modern military techniques being used as well as sophisticated weapons. More interestingly, it's also come to the fore that the Naxals are using tunnels for quick exits and bunkers as temporary shelters in the jungles of Gadchiroli.
Two seized Naxal literature -- one believed to be a modern military manual and the other a booklet on proposals of Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee's third meeting in September 2008 -- has given the police a fresh perspective to Naxal outlook.
This analysis formed the core of the debate in a recently concluded meeting of police officers from Maharashtra and Chhatisgarh, and the officials from Central government held at Jagdalpur.
The 332-page seized military manual (Buniyadi Sainik Pathyakram), published by Awami Jung Prakashan, has brought to the fore that Naxals may be gearing up to launch a full-fledged war on the government security forces. The manual, replete with military diagrams and illustrations, has detailed descriptions about aspects like principles of war zones, troupe formation, firing area, deployment, command, control, communication, identifying of targets and such aspects.
Security agencies feel that there might be manuals of further advanced warfare technique for Naxals which already has a central military commission (CMC) and state military commissions for grooming cadres into combat techniques.
According to a highly placed source in the police department, the recent Mungner encounter in Gadchiroli had laid the fact bare that the Naxals are shifting to military-trained positional warfare with sophisticated automatic assault weapons. They are fast distancing their traditional styles of shoot-and-scoot Guerrilla warfare as well as planned mobile warfare for positional warfare. Unlike in the past, black-uniform clad Naxals showed surprising tenacity in the Mungner encounter, where three commandoes were killed, to fight for more than two hours. The C-60 commandoes were pummelled relentlessly with sophisticated weapons.
The Naxals also displayed highly developed military skills and ferocity to take on the might of the mighty C-60 commandos. Nepali-looking fighters and their skills had also left the Naxals stunned. In fact, the Border Security Force chopper used to ferry polling parties was also hit by Naxal bullet during the recent election.
The seized literature, where the plan to have tunnels was found, fell into the hands of the security forces during an encounter at Gadchiroli during the recently concluded 'Operation Parakram'.
Destroying the tunnels and bunkers constructed by the Naxals is likely to be the main aim of the combined security forces during the forthcoming joint operations. Security forces are likely to renew their joint operation along Maharashtra-Chhatisgarh border soon.
During 'Operation Parakram' launched to flush out the Naxals from Gadchiroli jungles after their 01/02 Markegaon carnage that killed 15 cops, security forces were often left foxed by the sheer quickness with which the Naxals would be giving the forces a slip. In fact, senior officials had claimed that security forces have often failed to capitalize on opportunities to trap or eliminate Naxals on several locations even after reaching close to a victory.
Naxals not only have made safe exits from encounter spots but also managed to carry away the bodies of dead or injured. The chopper, used during Operation Parakram, too failed to trace the Naxals during its air-surveillances.
NAGPUR: Recent analysis of Naxal's combat style has revealed new methods which could prove to be a dampner to the security forces. There has been
evidence of modern military techniques being used as well as sophisticated weapons. More interestingly, it's also come to the fore that the Naxals are using tunnels for quick exits and bunkers as temporary shelters in the jungles of Gadchiroli.
Two seized Naxal literature -- one believed to be a modern military manual and the other a booklet on proposals of Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee's third meeting in September 2008 -- has given the police a fresh perspective to Naxal outlook.
This analysis formed the core of the debate in a recently concluded meeting of police officers from Maharashtra and Chhatisgarh, and the officials from Central government held at Jagdalpur.
The 332-page seized military manual (Buniyadi Sainik Pathyakram), published by Awami Jung Prakashan, has brought to the fore that Naxals may be gearing up to launch a full-fledged war on the government security forces. The manual, replete with military diagrams and illustrations, has detailed descriptions about aspects like principles of war zones, troupe formation, firing area, deployment, command, control, communication, identifying of targets and such aspects.
Security agencies feel that there might be manuals of further advanced warfare technique for Naxals which already has a central military commission (CMC) and state military commissions for grooming cadres into combat techniques.
According to a highly placed source in the police department, the recent Mungner encounter in Gadchiroli had laid the fact bare that the Naxals are shifting to military-trained positional warfare with sophisticated automatic assault weapons. They are fast distancing their traditional styles of shoot-and-scoot Guerrilla warfare as well as planned mobile warfare for positional warfare. Unlike in the past, black-uniform clad Naxals showed surprising tenacity in the Mungner encounter, where three commandoes were killed, to fight for more than two hours. The C-60 commandoes were pummelled relentlessly with sophisticated weapons.
The Naxals also displayed highly developed military skills and ferocity to take on the might of the mighty C-60 commandos. Nepali-looking fighters and their skills had also left the Naxals stunned. In fact, the Border Security Force chopper used to ferry polling parties was also hit by Naxal bullet during the recent election.
The seized literature, where the plan to have tunnels was found, fell into the hands of the security forces during an encounter at Gadchiroli during the recently concluded 'Operation Parakram'.
Destroying the tunnels and bunkers constructed by the Naxals is likely to be the main aim of the combined security forces during the forthcoming joint operations. Security forces are likely to renew their joint operation along Maharashtra-Chhatisgarh border soon.
During 'Operation Parakram' launched to flush out the Naxals from Gadchiroli jungles after their 01/02 Markegaon carnage that killed 15 cops, security forces were often left foxed by the sheer quickness with which the Naxals would be giving the forces a slip. In fact, senior officials had claimed that security forces have often failed to capitalize on opportunities to trap or eliminate Naxals on several locations even after reaching close to a victory.
Naxals not only have made safe exits from encounter spots but also managed to carry away the bodies of dead or injured. The chopper, used during Operation Parakram, too failed to trace the Naxals during its air-surveillances.
Naxals likely behind Chennai train mishap: Cops
2 May 2009, 1841 hrs IST, PTI
CHENNAI: Preliminary investigations into the April 29 mysterious train mishap here point to the likelihood of a suicide mission by Naxalites, top
police officials probing the case said on Saturday. ( Watch )
"Ramming a train at 90 km/hr (into the goods train)... there are all chances of the incident being a suicide mission. We are also probing whether the person jumped off the train at the last minute. We are keeping our options open to take the investigation in all possible angles," a senior official of the CB-CID wing, which is investigating the case, said.
He said the investigators are also looking into the possible involvement of Naxalites in the incident, though the Naxals are generally not known to use such modus operandi.
The investigation agency was keeping all options open to probe a possible Naxal hand into the incident since one of the deceased was found with a mark in Telugu tattooed on his hand and his body was yet to be claimed, he said.
Meanwhile, police today announced a reward of Rs 25,000 for information on Raju (alias) DogaRaju, whose dead body was found at Vyasarpadi Jeeva railway station.
Police have taken the tattoo mark as one of the leads to probe the cause of the mishap and have sent special teams to Andhra Pradesh.
Four persons were killed and 11 injured in the mishap in which unauthorised persons commandeered a surburban train from Chennai central station to nearby Vysarpadi Jeeva and rammed into a moving goods train.
CHENNAI: Preliminary investigations into the April 29 mysterious train mishap here point to the likelihood of a suicide mission by Naxalites, top
police officials probing the case said on Saturday. ( Watch )
"Ramming a train at 90 km/hr (into the goods train)... there are all chances of the incident being a suicide mission. We are also probing whether the person jumped off the train at the last minute. We are keeping our options open to take the investigation in all possible angles," a senior official of the CB-CID wing, which is investigating the case, said.
He said the investigators are also looking into the possible involvement of Naxalites in the incident, though the Naxals are generally not known to use such modus operandi.
The investigation agency was keeping all options open to probe a possible Naxal hand into the incident since one of the deceased was found with a mark in Telugu tattooed on his hand and his body was yet to be claimed, he said.
Meanwhile, police today announced a reward of Rs 25,000 for information on Raju (alias) DogaRaju, whose dead body was found at Vyasarpadi Jeeva railway station.
Police have taken the tattoo mark as one of the leads to probe the cause of the mishap and have sent special teams to Andhra Pradesh.
Four persons were killed and 11 injured in the mishap in which unauthorised persons commandeered a surburban train from Chennai central station to nearby Vysarpadi Jeeva and rammed into a moving goods train.
Andhra doesn't have more than 150-160 Maoists: Home minister
4 May 2009, 2114 hrs IST, PTI
HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh home minister K Jana Reddy has said not more than 150-160 cadres of the CPI (Maoists) could be present in the state.
"We have very effectively tackled the Maoists over the past few years and now they have been reduced to nothing. At best, there could be some 150-160 cadres of the outlaws hiding underground in the state," Reddy told reporters after a high-level review meeting on the post-election law and order situation at the secretariat on Monday.
That not a single incident of Maoist violence was reported during the two-phase polling last month in the state clearly indicated that the outlaws had lost ground, Reddy said and added that states like Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh witnessed Naxal violence during the elections.
To a question, Reddy said the talks initiated by the Congress government in late 2004 proved effective in tackling Naxal menace.
"Though the talks failed, we could very effectively curb Maoist activity in the state. Many of them have given up arms and surrendered before the police while many more are willing to give up," he added.
HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh home minister K Jana Reddy has said not more than 150-160 cadres of the CPI (Maoists) could be present in the state.
"We have very effectively tackled the Maoists over the past few years and now they have been reduced to nothing. At best, there could be some 150-160 cadres of the outlaws hiding underground in the state," Reddy told reporters after a high-level review meeting on the post-election law and order situation at the secretariat on Monday.
That not a single incident of Maoist violence was reported during the two-phase polling last month in the state clearly indicated that the outlaws had lost ground, Reddy said and added that states like Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh witnessed Naxal violence during the elections.
To a question, Reddy said the talks initiated by the Congress government in late 2004 proved effective in tackling Naxal menace.
"Though the talks failed, we could very effectively curb Maoist activity in the state. Many of them have given up arms and surrendered before the police while many more are willing to give up," he added.
3 Naxals held, outfit was planning base in capital
5 May 2009, 0251 hrs IST, TNN
NEW DELHI: Just two days before the capital goes to polls, the special cell of Delhi Police arrested three members of a banned Naxal outfit,
including a zonal commander, in the Badarpur area of south Delhi. The accused reportedly confessed that thy were trying to set up a base in the city, sending the security agencies into a tizzy.
The three arrested are from banned Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) and were identified as Yogendra Singh Bhokta (26), Satish Kumar (21) and Sheetal Kumar (19) while other members of the outfit are on the run, said police.
"We have received inputs in February this year after which their movements were being tracked. Further intelligence revealed that they were hiding in the Badarpur area after which a raid was conducted and all three were arrested from a house there,'' said DCP (special cell) Alok Kumar.
Police said Yogendra was the zonal commander of the MCC and was wanted in connection with several cases in Jharkhand. "In 2007, he sustained bullet injuries on his thigh during a shootout with a rival Naxalite group. After this, Singh came to Delhi and assumed a fake identity of Shiv Kumar and was under treatment at a south Delhi hospital,'' added Kumar.
Satish and Sheetal are allegedly involved in several criminal activities, including attack on police parties. Police added that Yogendra was trying to re-organise his group in the capital. All three have been remanded in police custody for four days.
Yogendra, the police added, is a school dropout and joined the Naxal outfit in 1999. In 2001, he became the area commander of Tandwa and Balumath in Jharkahnd. Later, he started extorting money in Palamu Chhatarpur area. In February 2004, Yogendra allegedly killed a police informer, Pawan Singh, in Simaria in Jharkhand. He had been involved in several shootouts with police and a rival Naxal organization.
Police added that acting on the directions of other Naxal leaders, Yogendra was first taken to Danapur near Patna where he remained under treatment for six months. Later, he moved to Delhi in November 2007 and was under treatment. They first stayed near Yusuf Sarai in south Delhi and then shifted to Badarpur and Faridabad, said the police.
Jharkhand police said that Sheetal's father was arrested twice for allegedly providing help to the banned outfit. Two others, identified as Ram Kumar and Shashi, who were helping the outfit financially are yet to be nabbed.
NEW DELHI: Just two days before the capital goes to polls, the special cell of Delhi Police arrested three members of a banned Naxal outfit,
including a zonal commander, in the Badarpur area of south Delhi. The accused reportedly confessed that thy were trying to set up a base in the city, sending the security agencies into a tizzy.
The three arrested are from banned Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) and were identified as Yogendra Singh Bhokta (26), Satish Kumar (21) and Sheetal Kumar (19) while other members of the outfit are on the run, said police.
"We have received inputs in February this year after which their movements were being tracked. Further intelligence revealed that they were hiding in the Badarpur area after which a raid was conducted and all three were arrested from a house there,'' said DCP (special cell) Alok Kumar.
Police said Yogendra was the zonal commander of the MCC and was wanted in connection with several cases in Jharkhand. "In 2007, he sustained bullet injuries on his thigh during a shootout with a rival Naxalite group. After this, Singh came to Delhi and assumed a fake identity of Shiv Kumar and was under treatment at a south Delhi hospital,'' added Kumar.
Satish and Sheetal are allegedly involved in several criminal activities, including attack on police parties. Police added that Yogendra was trying to re-organise his group in the capital. All three have been remanded in police custody for four days.
Yogendra, the police added, is a school dropout and joined the Naxal outfit in 1999. In 2001, he became the area commander of Tandwa and Balumath in Jharkahnd. Later, he started extorting money in Palamu Chhatarpur area. In February 2004, Yogendra allegedly killed a police informer, Pawan Singh, in Simaria in Jharkhand. He had been involved in several shootouts with police and a rival Naxal organization.
Police added that acting on the directions of other Naxal leaders, Yogendra was first taken to Danapur near Patna where he remained under treatment for six months. Later, he moved to Delhi in November 2007 and was under treatment. They first stayed near Yusuf Sarai in south Delhi and then shifted to Badarpur and Faridabad, said the police.
Jharkhand police said that Sheetal's father was arrested twice for allegedly providing help to the banned outfit. Two others, identified as Ram Kumar and Shashi, who were helping the outfit financially are yet to be nabbed.
Friday, May 01, 2009
One killed and two injured in firing by CRPF jawan
Tags: Dharmasthala (Karnataka)
Published: Fri, 01 May 2009
Dharmasthala (Karnataka), May 1 : A CRPF constable on poll duty today opened fire, killing a young man and injuring two people in a fit of rage after an altercation between the paramlitary force and a group of locals playing cricket here.
The altercation broke out after the ball hit one of the CRPF jawans at a play ground where their buses were parked.
As locals pelted stones, the CRPF men from Andhra Pradesh resorted to a lathicharge, leading to escalation of tension.
A constable then opened fire from his rifle, killing 26-year old Aithappa and injuring two others whose identity is yet to be known, police said.
Two CRPF constables were arrested in connection with the firing, they said.
As the news of the firing and the death of the local man spread, about 500 people blocked the CRPF personnel's buses, demanding their arrest.
The mob continued to pelt stones, damaging four buses carrying the CRPF personnel who were here to visit the famous Manjunatheshwara temple.
The 80-member CRPF contingent had been drafted for security in naxal-infested areas of Belthangady in Dakshina Kannada District for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls yesterday.
Superintendent of Police Subrammanyeshwara Rao told PTI that the situation in the temple town was under control now and the CRPF personnel were escorted to Mangalore, 90 km from here, where further investigations would be carried out. (MORE)
Published: Fri, 01 May 2009
Dharmasthala (Karnataka), May 1 : A CRPF constable on poll duty today opened fire, killing a young man and injuring two people in a fit of rage after an altercation between the paramlitary force and a group of locals playing cricket here.
The altercation broke out after the ball hit one of the CRPF jawans at a play ground where their buses were parked.
As locals pelted stones, the CRPF men from Andhra Pradesh resorted to a lathicharge, leading to escalation of tension.
A constable then opened fire from his rifle, killing 26-year old Aithappa and injuring two others whose identity is yet to be known, police said.
Two CRPF constables were arrested in connection with the firing, they said.
As the news of the firing and the death of the local man spread, about 500 people blocked the CRPF personnel's buses, demanding their arrest.
The mob continued to pelt stones, damaging four buses carrying the CRPF personnel who were here to visit the famous Manjunatheshwara temple.
The 80-member CRPF contingent had been drafted for security in naxal-infested areas of Belthangady in Dakshina Kannada District for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls yesterday.
Superintendent of Police Subrammanyeshwara Rao told PTI that the situation in the temple town was under control now and the CRPF personnel were escorted to Mangalore, 90 km from here, where further investigations would be carried out. (MORE)
Naxals could not stop them
2 May 2009, 0218 hrs IST, Prafulla Marpakwar, TNN
MUMBAI: Most Mumbaikars, who preferred to stay indoors on election day, need to take lessons from illiterate villagers in the Naxal-dominated
Gadchiroli district.
In the backdrop of the worst-ever terror attack on the metropolis, it was expected that a large number of Mumbaikars would exercise their franchise but unfortunately, the response was dismal, as less than 42% of the electorate participated. Significantly, Gadchiroli district, where the Naxalites had threatened to chop off fingers if a villager exercised his franchise, recorded 65% voting, the second highest in the state. The highest 67% was recorded in Bhandara-Gondia.
"We are surprised at the lowest-ever voting percentage in the metropolis. It appears that voters are losing faith in the political system. We will have to initiate stringent measures to restore the faith,'' said BJP leader Vinod Tawde.
Gadchiroli police chief Rajesh Pradhan said despite a constant threat from the Naxals, the district witnessed a huge turnout. "Despite the fact that we had taken all security measures, we were not expecting such a massive response from the voters as the Naxalites had threatened to either kill or chop off the fingers of those people who exercise their franchise,'' Pradhan told TOI.
Even before the EC declared the poll schedule, Pradhan had completed inspection of the district, particularly the Naxal hideouts. "All our operations were successful. We nabbed some prominent Naxal activists-two were killed in our operation, while two were caught alive,'' Pradhan said.
A week before the polling, the Naxalites had given a call for Gadchiroli bandh and poll boycott. Some Naxalites from Chhatisgarh and Andhra were in the process of entering Gadchiroli. "We sealed all borders of Gadchiroli so that no Naxalites from these states could reach our district,'' he said. Pradhan said his biggest success was that he was able to instil confidence among the villagers.
In Mumbai there was no response from the voters. "After 26/11, people had criticised the ruling party. So we were expecting that they will express their anger in the ballot box, but that did not happen,'' Tawde said.
MUMBAI: Most Mumbaikars, who preferred to stay indoors on election day, need to take lessons from illiterate villagers in the Naxal-dominated
Gadchiroli district.
In the backdrop of the worst-ever terror attack on the metropolis, it was expected that a large number of Mumbaikars would exercise their franchise but unfortunately, the response was dismal, as less than 42% of the electorate participated. Significantly, Gadchiroli district, where the Naxalites had threatened to chop off fingers if a villager exercised his franchise, recorded 65% voting, the second highest in the state. The highest 67% was recorded in Bhandara-Gondia.
"We are surprised at the lowest-ever voting percentage in the metropolis. It appears that voters are losing faith in the political system. We will have to initiate stringent measures to restore the faith,'' said BJP leader Vinod Tawde.
Gadchiroli police chief Rajesh Pradhan said despite a constant threat from the Naxals, the district witnessed a huge turnout. "Despite the fact that we had taken all security measures, we were not expecting such a massive response from the voters as the Naxalites had threatened to either kill or chop off the fingers of those people who exercise their franchise,'' Pradhan told TOI.
Even before the EC declared the poll schedule, Pradhan had completed inspection of the district, particularly the Naxal hideouts. "All our operations were successful. We nabbed some prominent Naxal activists-two were killed in our operation, while two were caught alive,'' Pradhan said.
A week before the polling, the Naxalites had given a call for Gadchiroli bandh and poll boycott. Some Naxalites from Chhatisgarh and Andhra were in the process of entering Gadchiroli. "We sealed all borders of Gadchiroli so that no Naxalites from these states could reach our district,'' he said. Pradhan said his biggest success was that he was able to instil confidence among the villagers.
In Mumbai there was no response from the voters. "After 26/11, people had criticised the ruling party. So we were expecting that they will express their anger in the ballot box, but that did not happen,'' Tawde said.
Maoists barred many from voting: Biman
1 May 2009, 0509 hrs IST, TNN
KOLKATA: Left Front chairman Biman Bose congratulated voters for braving an atmosphere of terror and exercising their franchise in the 14 Lok Sabha
constituencies that went to the polls on Thursday.
Talking to the media, Bose conceded that Maoists had been able to persuade voters to boycott polls in some booths. "Braving an atmosphere of terror and provocation, people in general have queued up at polling booths in the first phase of elections. We thank them for maintaining the true tradition of our state," he said.
But the Left Front chairman sounded upset with polling in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong under the Darjeeling constituency. "Polling in these areas could not be free and fair. We will collect information from the district and then think whether we should demand repoll in some booths," Bose said.
Bose wondered how a high turnout of voters was recorded in the hills despite heavy rains. "We will have to examine certain things so far as voting in the Hills is concerned," he said. Bose came down heavily on the Opposition for making all efforts to terrorise the CPM candidates and supporters in some areas. For example, in Malda North constituency, the election agent of the CPM candidate Sailen Sarkar, Ambar Mitra was beaten up by goons on Wednesday night when he was returning home. " In Malda South efforts were on to create disturbances as well. But, major incidents could be averted," Bose said.
Bose expressed his unhappiness at the manner a section of voters was stopped by Maoists from casting their vote in some areas of West Midnapore and Purulia. Referring to Lalgarh and Bandwan, Bose said that low turn out in some booths proved that the boycott call issued by Maoists could influence a section of voters.
However, Bose refused to comment whether this trend was pointing to the fact that the Maoists were gradually gaining strength in some districts in the state.
The Left Front chairman lamented the fact that the Trinamool Congress candidate from Ghatal had slapped the presiding officer when he was barred from entering the booth. Bose lambasted the Trinamool-Congress alliance, saying that Trinamool kept oscillating between Congress and BJP.
KOLKATA: Left Front chairman Biman Bose congratulated voters for braving an atmosphere of terror and exercising their franchise in the 14 Lok Sabha
constituencies that went to the polls on Thursday.
Talking to the media, Bose conceded that Maoists had been able to persuade voters to boycott polls in some booths. "Braving an atmosphere of terror and provocation, people in general have queued up at polling booths in the first phase of elections. We thank them for maintaining the true tradition of our state," he said.
But the Left Front chairman sounded upset with polling in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong under the Darjeeling constituency. "Polling in these areas could not be free and fair. We will collect information from the district and then think whether we should demand repoll in some booths," Bose said.
Bose wondered how a high turnout of voters was recorded in the hills despite heavy rains. "We will have to examine certain things so far as voting in the Hills is concerned," he said. Bose came down heavily on the Opposition for making all efforts to terrorise the CPM candidates and supporters in some areas. For example, in Malda North constituency, the election agent of the CPM candidate Sailen Sarkar, Ambar Mitra was beaten up by goons on Wednesday night when he was returning home. " In Malda South efforts were on to create disturbances as well. But, major incidents could be averted," Bose said.
Bose expressed his unhappiness at the manner a section of voters was stopped by Maoists from casting their vote in some areas of West Midnapore and Purulia. Referring to Lalgarh and Bandwan, Bose said that low turn out in some booths proved that the boycott call issued by Maoists could influence a section of voters.
However, Bose refused to comment whether this trend was pointing to the fact that the Maoists were gradually gaining strength in some districts in the state.
The Left Front chairman lamented the fact that the Trinamool Congress candidate from Ghatal had slapped the presiding officer when he was barred from entering the booth. Bose lambasted the Trinamool-Congress alliance, saying that Trinamool kept oscillating between Congress and BJP.
WB: Maoists trigger blasts, kill 3
1 May 2009, 0526 hrs IST, Jayanta Gupta & Sukumar Mahato, TNN
LALGARH/BELPAHARI/BANSPAHARI: Serial blasts ripped through the Jangalmahal area spread over West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia, before and after
the Lok Sabha elections on Thursday, killing two poll officials and their driver.
The first landmine blast of the day, at Biramdihi in Purulia, came as early as 8.30 am.
The last one at Khusibani forest near Jamboni happened around 6.45 pm.
A Mahindra-Max carrying officials from the polling booths in Belpahari was returning to Jhargram Raj College when it was blown up on the main road while passing by Khusibani forest, 22 km from Jhargram. The jeep was way behind the motorcade, escorted by a police van in front. The blast occurred seconds after the police escort and other cars passed over.
The police officers were taken aback at the huge blast behind them and informed their superiors. However, they did not wait for the victims as is the rule in this zone. Later, a convoy with paramilitary forces reached the spot and identified the two poll officials killed as Prasad Ranjan Banerjee and Saugata Karmakar and the driver as Sanjay Das.
The Maoist operation is similar to the one in Binpur block, where a medical van was blown up and for which the rebels apologised later. In both cases, the landmines were planted in such a way that they triggered two other blasts.
LALGARH/BELPAHARI/BANSPAHARI: Serial blasts ripped through the Jangalmahal area spread over West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia, before and after
the Lok Sabha elections on Thursday, killing two poll officials and their driver.
The first landmine blast of the day, at Biramdihi in Purulia, came as early as 8.30 am.
The last one at Khusibani forest near Jamboni happened around 6.45 pm.
A Mahindra-Max carrying officials from the polling booths in Belpahari was returning to Jhargram Raj College when it was blown up on the main road while passing by Khusibani forest, 22 km from Jhargram. The jeep was way behind the motorcade, escorted by a police van in front. The blast occurred seconds after the police escort and other cars passed over.
The police officers were taken aback at the huge blast behind them and informed their superiors. However, they did not wait for the victims as is the rule in this zone. Later, a convoy with paramilitary forces reached the spot and identified the two poll officials killed as Prasad Ranjan Banerjee and Saugata Karmakar and the driver as Sanjay Das.
The Maoist operation is similar to the one in Binpur block, where a medical van was blown up and for which the rebels apologised later. In both cases, the landmines were planted in such a way that they triggered two other blasts.
India among world's most terror-afflicted countries: US
1 May 2009, 0857 hrs IST, PTI
WASHINGTON: Ranking India among the world's most terrorism-afflicted countries, the United States on Friday said that none of the perpetrators of
the major terrorist attacks in that country last year have yet been prosecuted.
Besides the 26/11 Mumbai attack, the annual "Country Reports on Terrorism 2008" of the US state department has listed seven other major terrorist attacks in India during 2008 -- prominent among them being the Jaipur bombings, attack on Indian Embassy in Kabul and the terror strikes in Ahmedabad, Delhi and Assam.
"In addition to the Mumbai attacks, the rise in terrorist attacks and their coordinated nature throughout India suggested the terrorists were well-funded and financially organized," the report said.
Blog: Kasab trial or circus?
As for the Mumbai attack, the report said Indian authorities believe that the terrorists used various funding sources including credit cards, hawala, charities, and wealthy donors. Illicit funding sources that may have been exploited to finance terrorist operations were being closely investigated, it said.
According to the report, Indian government assessed that Islamic extremist groups including Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Harakat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami (Bangladesh) as well as indigenous groups were behind major terrorists attacks.
In its report, the US also praised India for having an "excellent record" of protecting its nuclear assets from terrorists.
India is taking steps to improve further the security of its strategic systems, it said.
In May the Indian Parliament passed the Weapons of Mass Destruction and Their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Bill, designed to prevent the transfer of WMD, delivery systems, and associated technologies to state and non-state actors, including terrorists, the US reported.
And in August, India announced a new policy on airplane hijackings that included directing ground crews to obstruct a hijacked plane from taking off, and a clearance procedure for authorizing the shooting down of a hijacked plane in flight that might endanger civilians on the ground.
Observing that the terrorists staged hundreds of attacks on people and property in India in the year 2008, the report said the most prominent terrorist groups are violent extremist separatists operating in Jammu and Kashmir, Maoists in the "Naxalite belt", and ethno-linguistic nationalists in India's northeastern states.
WASHINGTON: Ranking India among the world's most terrorism-afflicted countries, the United States on Friday said that none of the perpetrators of
the major terrorist attacks in that country last year have yet been prosecuted.
Besides the 26/11 Mumbai attack, the annual "Country Reports on Terrorism 2008" of the US state department has listed seven other major terrorist attacks in India during 2008 -- prominent among them being the Jaipur bombings, attack on Indian Embassy in Kabul and the terror strikes in Ahmedabad, Delhi and Assam.
"In addition to the Mumbai attacks, the rise in terrorist attacks and their coordinated nature throughout India suggested the terrorists were well-funded and financially organized," the report said.
Blog: Kasab trial or circus?
As for the Mumbai attack, the report said Indian authorities believe that the terrorists used various funding sources including credit cards, hawala, charities, and wealthy donors. Illicit funding sources that may have been exploited to finance terrorist operations were being closely investigated, it said.
According to the report, Indian government assessed that Islamic extremist groups including Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Harakat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami (Bangladesh) as well as indigenous groups were behind major terrorists attacks.
In its report, the US also praised India for having an "excellent record" of protecting its nuclear assets from terrorists.
India is taking steps to improve further the security of its strategic systems, it said.
In May the Indian Parliament passed the Weapons of Mass Destruction and Their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Bill, designed to prevent the transfer of WMD, delivery systems, and associated technologies to state and non-state actors, including terrorists, the US reported.
And in August, India announced a new policy on airplane hijackings that included directing ground crews to obstruct a hijacked plane from taking off, and a clearance procedure for authorizing the shooting down of a hijacked plane in flight that might endanger civilians on the ground.
Observing that the terrorists staged hundreds of attacks on people and property in India in the year 2008, the report said the most prominent terrorist groups are violent extremist separatists operating in Jammu and Kashmir, Maoists in the "Naxalite belt", and ethno-linguistic nationalists in India's northeastern states.
Tattoo adds to train mystery
G.C. SHEKHAR
The train being removed from the accident site in Chennai on Wednesday. (AFP)
Chennai, April 30: A possible Naxalite link has emerged in yesterday’s collision involving a “hijacked” train after investigators came across a tattoo in Telugu on a body found at the crash site.
The tattoo on the arm was noticed during the post-mortem of the unidentified body, which investigators said may be that of the mystery driver who took over the suburban train and crashed into a stationary goods train yesterday morning. The other three persons killed in the accident have been identified.
“Only the second part of the name, Raju, was visible, the rest was smudged. We have sought the co-operation of Andhra police and informed our border districts,” additional director-general (crime) Archana Ramasundaram said.
While the tattoo itself doesn’t directly establish a rebel connection, the investigators are looking at the possibility because of a 2006 case that showed Naxalite operatives were using Chennai as a haven.
In September that year, an engineer, said to be from the rebel ranks, was arrested with his wife for allegedly designing grenade shells and having them produced in forging factories around Chennai. The case is going on.
Until the tattoo was spotted, the police, led by the facial features, thought the man found dead on the tracks was a north Indian.
“We suspect he could have jumped out of the driver’s cabin just before the train collided with the goods train. His identity is the key to the investigation,” said S.N. Seshasayee, DIG of the crime branch.
Police officers said the face of the person, though disfigured a little, was good enough for possible identification.
An important lead has emerged from an STD booth operator at the Central station, from where the train was “hijacked”.
The operator, shown photos of the unidentified dead man, claimed the person had been making calls from his booth for almost a month — always early in the morning. Yesterday, too, he had spoken to someone, in Hindi, the operator has claimed. The calls are being traced.
The police officials are also looking at footage of the closed-circuit cameras installed at the station. But the scan may not yield many clues as railway officials said there were no such camera near the motorman’s cabin.
The train being removed from the accident site in Chennai on Wednesday. (AFP)
Chennai, April 30: A possible Naxalite link has emerged in yesterday’s collision involving a “hijacked” train after investigators came across a tattoo in Telugu on a body found at the crash site.
The tattoo on the arm was noticed during the post-mortem of the unidentified body, which investigators said may be that of the mystery driver who took over the suburban train and crashed into a stationary goods train yesterday morning. The other three persons killed in the accident have been identified.
“Only the second part of the name, Raju, was visible, the rest was smudged. We have sought the co-operation of Andhra police and informed our border districts,” additional director-general (crime) Archana Ramasundaram said.
While the tattoo itself doesn’t directly establish a rebel connection, the investigators are looking at the possibility because of a 2006 case that showed Naxalite operatives were using Chennai as a haven.
In September that year, an engineer, said to be from the rebel ranks, was arrested with his wife for allegedly designing grenade shells and having them produced in forging factories around Chennai. The case is going on.
Until the tattoo was spotted, the police, led by the facial features, thought the man found dead on the tracks was a north Indian.
“We suspect he could have jumped out of the driver’s cabin just before the train collided with the goods train. His identity is the key to the investigation,” said S.N. Seshasayee, DIG of the crime branch.
Police officers said the face of the person, though disfigured a little, was good enough for possible identification.
An important lead has emerged from an STD booth operator at the Central station, from where the train was “hijacked”.
The operator, shown photos of the unidentified dead man, claimed the person had been making calls from his booth for almost a month — always early in the morning. Yesterday, too, he had spoken to someone, in Hindi, the operator has claimed. The calls are being traced.
The police officials are also looking at footage of the closed-circuit cameras installed at the station. But the scan may not yield many clues as railway officials said there were no such camera near the motorman’s cabin.
Villagers caught up in trouble, post-Naxal attack
Statesman News Service
KORAPUT, April 30: The Naxal attack on the Nalco mine area earlier this month has drawn attention to villages like Talameting which were otherwise invisible as far as the state was concerned.
The lone school in Talameting has not opened for 12 years - needless to say no child of the village has ever gone to school. If that speaks volumes against the much hyped 'universalisation' of education and the Sarva Sikshya Abhiyan, here is another shocking fact – the lone tube well in the village has never functioned since the day it was installed. Villagers trek to the nearest natural source of water.
Located on the foothills of the Nalco mines, Talameting would never have drawn attention, had it not been caught up in the recent Naxalite attacks.
The villagers - 32 households in total - were suddenly in the thick of trouble. The Naxal strike on 12 April at the Nalco mines came as a major jolt for these villagers. They had learned to live with poverty and deprivation, they were reconciled to the fact that they did not exist in the eyes of government agencies. Post-12 April, however, they have been faced with a new threat – policemen.
"The villagers are scared," said Mr Nihar Ranjan Patnaik, who had led a fact finding team to the village. Mr Patnaik is president of the Bar Association, Koraput.
The team was constituted to ascertain the veracity of alleged police excesses and indiscriminate firing in the village on 13 April when combing operations were launched.
"The team had recovered a bullet that was stuck in the mud wall of a hut and taken pictures of numerous scars on other walls in the village caused by bullets," said Mr Patnaik.
It was at this village that one Katru Huika was killed by police forces. Villagers complained to the team that at least 20 jawans had entered the village and fired indiscriminately. Huika had no links with any Left wing outfit, and was returning home when he was shot dead, they alleged. The villagers also charged that four youths of the village have been missing since the fateful day.
The team has indicted the police and district administration as well as Nalco authorities in its report to the National Human Rights Commission.
The committee has demanded a judicial probe by a sitting High Court Judge into the entire police operation carried out in the area in the wake of the Naxal attack on the Nalco mine
KORAPUT, April 30: The Naxal attack on the Nalco mine area earlier this month has drawn attention to villages like Talameting which were otherwise invisible as far as the state was concerned.
The lone school in Talameting has not opened for 12 years - needless to say no child of the village has ever gone to school. If that speaks volumes against the much hyped 'universalisation' of education and the Sarva Sikshya Abhiyan, here is another shocking fact – the lone tube well in the village has never functioned since the day it was installed. Villagers trek to the nearest natural source of water.
Located on the foothills of the Nalco mines, Talameting would never have drawn attention, had it not been caught up in the recent Naxalite attacks.
The villagers - 32 households in total - were suddenly in the thick of trouble. The Naxal strike on 12 April at the Nalco mines came as a major jolt for these villagers. They had learned to live with poverty and deprivation, they were reconciled to the fact that they did not exist in the eyes of government agencies. Post-12 April, however, they have been faced with a new threat – policemen.
"The villagers are scared," said Mr Nihar Ranjan Patnaik, who had led a fact finding team to the village. Mr Patnaik is president of the Bar Association, Koraput.
The team was constituted to ascertain the veracity of alleged police excesses and indiscriminate firing in the village on 13 April when combing operations were launched.
"The team had recovered a bullet that was stuck in the mud wall of a hut and taken pictures of numerous scars on other walls in the village caused by bullets," said Mr Patnaik.
It was at this village that one Katru Huika was killed by police forces. Villagers complained to the team that at least 20 jawans had entered the village and fired indiscriminately. Huika had no links with any Left wing outfit, and was returning home when he was shot dead, they alleged. The villagers also charged that four youths of the village have been missing since the fateful day.
The team has indicted the police and district administration as well as Nalco authorities in its report to the National Human Rights Commission.
The committee has demanded a judicial probe by a sitting High Court Judge into the entire police operation carried out in the area in the wake of the Naxal attack on the Nalco mine
Three top officials of Jharkhand's Latehar district removed
Ranchi, May 1 (PTI) Three top officials in Jharkhand have been removed from their posts in the wake of widespread naxal violence in Latehar district disrupting the first phase polling on April 16, official sources said today.
Those given the marching orders are Latehar's Deputy Commissioner Sarvendu Tathagat, Deputy Inspector General of Police Nandu Prasad and Superintendent of Police Hemant Toppo.
While Tathagat has been asked to join the personnel department, both Prasad and Toppo have been asked to report to the state police headquarters, the sources said.
The action of the authorities in the state, which is under President's Rule, comes a fortnight after widespread naxal violence shook Latehar district, including the naxal seize of a passenger train near Hehegarha in that area. PTI
Those given the marching orders are Latehar's Deputy Commissioner Sarvendu Tathagat, Deputy Inspector General of Police Nandu Prasad and Superintendent of Police Hemant Toppo.
While Tathagat has been asked to join the personnel department, both Prasad and Toppo have been asked to report to the state police headquarters, the sources said.
The action of the authorities in the state, which is under President's Rule, comes a fortnight after widespread naxal violence shook Latehar district, including the naxal seize of a passenger train near Hehegarha in that area. PTI
Naxal duo nabbed in city
Express News ServiceFirst Published : 01 May 2009 12:55:54 PM ISTLast Updated :
HYDERABAD: A dalam member of the CPI-ML Praja Pantha party and a former member of CPI-ML Janashakthi group were nabbed in the city on Thursday and their plan to kill a Praja Pratighatana dalam member was foiled.
The duo were nabbed near Shahinayathgunj on a tip-off and an axe and sword were recovered from them.
Kandula Venkataiah alias Venkanna, a resident of Karmanghat and B Balaswamy are both natives of Nalgonda district. Venkanna, who used to attend grama sabhas of Rythu Cooli Sangham (RCS), got attracted to the ideology of Praja Pantha of CPI(ML) party and joined it in 1987.
Venkanna was later appointed as a division committee member of Nalgonda district. In 1989, differences arose between CPI(ML) Praja Pantha and the then PWG and Venkanna along with six others killed PWG organiser of Munugodu mandal, Jadala Papaiah.
Venkanna got involved in extortions, land and financial settlements under the leadership of RCS secretary, Achuta Rama Rao, and RCS Nalgonda town president, Meka Ram Reddy. Later, he migrated to the city fearing harm from rivals. On the other hand, Balaswamy, a native of Nalgonda district and a graduate, joined the CPI (ML) Janashakthi Group of Rajanna faction. After a year, he surrendered before the police.
A year back, Balaswamy came in contact with Achuta Rama Rao. “Achuta Rama Rao instructed Venkanna and Balaswamy to kill a Praja Pratighatana dalam member, Nagaraju, as he was threatening a Praja Pantha party member, V Yadaiah, demanding money. The duo had come to the city to kill Nagaraju and were nabbed, Task Force DCP V B Kamalasan Reddy said on Thursday.
HYDERABAD: A dalam member of the CPI-ML Praja Pantha party and a former member of CPI-ML Janashakthi group were nabbed in the city on Thursday and their plan to kill a Praja Pratighatana dalam member was foiled.
The duo were nabbed near Shahinayathgunj on a tip-off and an axe and sword were recovered from them.
Kandula Venkataiah alias Venkanna, a resident of Karmanghat and B Balaswamy are both natives of Nalgonda district. Venkanna, who used to attend grama sabhas of Rythu Cooli Sangham (RCS), got attracted to the ideology of Praja Pantha of CPI(ML) party and joined it in 1987.
Venkanna was later appointed as a division committee member of Nalgonda district. In 1989, differences arose between CPI(ML) Praja Pantha and the then PWG and Venkanna along with six others killed PWG organiser of Munugodu mandal, Jadala Papaiah.
Venkanna got involved in extortions, land and financial settlements under the leadership of RCS secretary, Achuta Rama Rao, and RCS Nalgonda town president, Meka Ram Reddy. Later, he migrated to the city fearing harm from rivals. On the other hand, Balaswamy, a native of Nalgonda district and a graduate, joined the CPI (ML) Janashakthi Group of Rajanna faction. After a year, he surrendered before the police.
A year back, Balaswamy came in contact with Achuta Rama Rao. “Achuta Rama Rao instructed Venkanna and Balaswamy to kill a Praja Pratighatana dalam member, Nagaraju, as he was threatening a Praja Pantha party member, V Yadaiah, demanding money. The duo had come to the city to kill Nagaraju and were nabbed, Task Force DCP V B Kamalasan Reddy said on Thursday.
Naxals target mobile phone towers to cut off 'informers'
1 May 2009, 1713 hrs IST, PTI
NEW DELHI: Naxals, who have unleashed a reign of terror during the ongoing electioneering, are involved in attacks on mobile telephone communication
systems particularly in the last three years.
During the period, the Naxals have blown up as many as 62 mobile telephone towers in six Maoist-hit states.
Home Ministry sources said the highest number of towers, 20, were destroyed by the Naxals in Chhattisgarh where last year alone 14 mobile telephone towers of both private and government networks were attacked by the Maoists.
Towers located in Bihar, too, faced the brunt of Naxal attacks as they blew up 14 of them last year. Four other states which faced the Naxal attacks on mobile telephone towers are Orissa, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Maharahstra.
"Maoists believe many police informers use mobile network to inform security forces about their movement and activities which resulted arrest of several of their leaders and that is why they try to target the towers," an official said.
Jharkhand, which did not see any attack on mobile towers till 2007, saw nine such attacks which disrupted communication network in several Naxal-hit regions.
In 2005, the Maoists had blown up eight mobile towers while in 2006, they targeted just five. In 2007, the Naxals destroyed six mobile towers and in 2008, an abnormally high 43 towers were attacked.
NEW DELHI: Naxals, who have unleashed a reign of terror during the ongoing electioneering, are involved in attacks on mobile telephone communication
systems particularly in the last three years.
During the period, the Naxals have blown up as many as 62 mobile telephone towers in six Maoist-hit states.
Home Ministry sources said the highest number of towers, 20, were destroyed by the Naxals in Chhattisgarh where last year alone 14 mobile telephone towers of both private and government networks were attacked by the Maoists.
Towers located in Bihar, too, faced the brunt of Naxal attacks as they blew up 14 of them last year. Four other states which faced the Naxal attacks on mobile telephone towers are Orissa, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Maharahstra.
"Maoists believe many police informers use mobile network to inform security forces about their movement and activities which resulted arrest of several of their leaders and that is why they try to target the towers," an official said.
Jharkhand, which did not see any attack on mobile towers till 2007, saw nine such attacks which disrupted communication network in several Naxal-hit regions.
In 2005, the Maoists had blown up eight mobile towers while in 2006, they targeted just five. In 2007, the Naxals destroyed six mobile towers and in 2008, an abnormally high 43 towers were attacked.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
