New Delhi, Oct. 24: A Hyderabad-based private company has agreed to fly over Naxalite affected areas of Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh after the Union home ministry agreed to provide insurance cover to pilots and the choppers, and reached an agreement on the minimum guarantee amount.

M/s Vortex will be paid Rs 8 crore per annum to fly over Naxalite affected areas of the four states, said a home ministry official here. The state governments have been asking for air support for anti-Naxalite operations by security forces. The company had earlier refused to fly over Naxalite strongholds, fearing possible use of rockets by the ultras. The first few sorties are likely to be carried out in Dantewada and Abuzmarh forest, said home ministry sources.

In fact, two successful anti-Naxalite operations are learnt to have been carried out in Chhattisgarh during the last one month with air support provided by the company. Choppers were used to drop CRPF personnel skilled in jungle warfare in dense forests. They were air-lifted back to their base after successfully carrying out the operations, confided a CRPF official.

Ahead of the CRPF’s 67th raising day function, director general Jyoti Kumar Sinha declared that around 400 rockets seemed to have reached the rebels although Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh police have seized 850 and odd rockets. “It’s a cause of worry for us,” he added.