CM: Naxals pose a great challenge
Saturday, March 10, 2007
CUTTACK: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday painted a grim picture of the Naxal situation in the State saying around 100 police stations in 16 districts were affected by Left Wing extremism.
Addressing the 52nd Senior Police Officers' Conference here, Naveen expressed concern over the spread of Maoist tentacles and attempts by extremists to mobilise and militarise tribal population. However, what was most disturbing was the effort of the radicals to hijack the tribal movements.
Besides, use of sophisticated weaponry and modern technology to mount attacks with landmines and IEDs posed a great challenge to the security agencies.
The Chief Minister, however, reiterated that the Government would not let the Naxals have a free run and was taking several proactive measures to tackle the menace.
While equipping the personnel with sophisticated arms and ammunition, emphasis has also been laid on increasing the manpower. In addition to the 5,000 fresh recruits, the Government has decided to rope in 1,652 ex-servicemen on contract in Naxal-infested regions.
Naveen said though overall law and order situation in the State was satisfactory, there were several instances when the police were caught unawares. He also expressed concern over the high incidence of human rights violation by police.
The conference emphasised on improving quality of investigation by optimal utilisation of scientific and forensic aids, including DNA finger-printing, lie detection and brain-mapping. Newindpress
posted by Resistance 3/10/2007 12:59:00 PM,
