Major anti-Naxal operation launched, CoBRA troops shifted to Jharkhand as March 31 deadline approaches

New Delhi: With less than a week left before the Centre’s March 31 deadline to end left-wing extremism, security forces have launched a series of intensified operations in key Maoist-affected areas to track down remaining militant cadres and force surrender.“The plan is to ensure 100 per cent elimination of armed Naxalites by March 31 (the deadline announced by Union Home Minister Amit Shah). This will be either through encounters or surrender. Some massive operations are being carried out in the last 5-6 days of the countdown,” a senior CAPF commander told PTI.Security forces are still on the trail of around 130 to 150 armed cadres, including two members of the banned Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and some other division-level operatives.Official sources told PTI that the Center is also working on an “operation and development” blueprint, which is expected to include the withdrawal of about five Central Armed Police battalions from these areas and launching a number of welfare schemes.Sources said that as part of the operation, around three to four Cobra units of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) are being moved from Chhattisgarh to Jharkhand for a special operation in the Saranda forests of West Singhbhum district.Misir Besra alias Bhaskar is said to be stationed in Jharkhand and the CoBRA team is looking for him and his associates.In Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district, teams of the Central Reserve Police Force, Indian Border Police Force and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) are also being “redeployed” with the specific aim of engaging in gun battles with armed Maoist cadres or forcing them to surrender, sources said.A cross-border operation involving Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Odisha is also underway, sources said.According to officials, Rammanna, also known as Ganapathi or Laxman Rao, is in touch with the Telangana police and may surrender before March 31.Another official said about three battalions of the Border Security Force (BSF) along with a divisional office headed by home ministry level officers are expected to be withdrawn from Koraput district and adjoining districts of Odisha.The department office is likely to be shifted to Kandhamal district of the state, while the three battalions will be shifted to Manipur for border guard duties or to Manipur, depending on the situation.Some Armed Police Force battalions in Chhattisgarh will also be withdrawn and an announcement is expected to be made on March 31. The official added that the state police and Chhattisgarh DRG will take over the armed police force camp.Chhattisgarh Home Minister and Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma announced in Jagdalpur on Wednesday that nearly 96 per cent of the vast geographical area of ​​Bastar is now free from Naxalite influence.Sources said the armed police forces and state police forces have also been asked to conduct joint “demining” exercises to search for hidden improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and bombs in areas affected by Naxal violence.In February this year, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) conducted a re-examination of districts affected by Naxal violence and informed that there were seven districts in the country affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE).The seven districts are Bijapur, Narayanpur, Sukma, Kanker and Dantewada in Chhattisgarh, West Singhbhum in Jharkhand and Kandhamal in Odisha.The nine states affected by LWE under different categories are Jharkhand, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana and West Bengal.According to official data, a total of 76 districts in nine states were hit by LWE during 2005-06.Home Minister Shah has repeatedly claimed that the LWE menace, once termed India’s biggest internal security challenge in 2010, will end by March this year.Describing the Naxal violence as a challenge to democracy, he said it had so far claimed the lives of about 17,000 civilians and security personnel.The Naxalite movement emerged in 1967 in Naxalbari, a village in West Bengal at the junction of India, Nepal and Bangladesh.