A Cobra commando

Ranchi, July 24: It will be some time before the Cobra raises its hood in Hazaribagh.

Faced with opposition from local residents, pitching for industries on the land earmarked for the battalion headquarters, the state has decided to go slow on forming the anti-Maoist combat force.

Hazaribagh deputy commissioner (DC) Vinay Kumar Choubey told The Telegraph that they had currently “put on hold” the proposal of setting up the Cobra headquarters on 100 acres in the Barhi sub-division following protests.

“We will review the matter once again next month. Local villagers seem to be in favour of industries in the region, but the state is determined to house the Cobra in Barhi. We will hold talks with villagers and try to convince them,” Choubey said, reiterating that the project had been shelved for the time being.

The home ministry had, in a recent order, finalised deployment of one battalion each in four Maoist zones in a strategic move aimed at snapping passageways the rebels use to move across state boundaries.

The Cobra headquarters are to come up in Bhandara (Maharashtra), Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh), Hazaribagh (Jharkhand) and Gaya (Bihar). All four offer access to Maoist corridors.

However, the decision, the proposal for which was mooted more than a year ago, has not gone down well with locals. Last month saw two blockades on NH-33. Disgruntled villagers squatted on the road in protest against the earmarking of land in Barhi. Local Congress MLA Manoj Yadav, too, joined the agitation. The protests were quelled following assurances from the district administration that the matter would be looked into.

Interestingly, the controversial 100 acres in Barhi was acquired by the Ranchi Industrial Area Development Authority (RIADA) for setting up factories. In fact, a Barhi Growth Centre was also proposed on 550 acres, but the proposal never received due attention.

State police spokesperson S.N. Pradhan said RIADA was yet to hand over the land in Barhi to the CRPF, the Cobra’s mother force, “without encumbrances”. “Construction work can start only after that is done. Same for Khunti, where a second Cobra unit is to be raised,” said Pradhan.

DC Kumar said the state cabinet had, in principle, decided to allot land in Barhi for the Cobra. “But we will go slow for now (in the wake of protests).”

The Centre had announced raising 10 Cobra units over three years to tackle the growing Maoist threat in different parts of the country.

Each battalion will have around 1,000 specially trained personnel. Jharkhand is to have two battalions — one each in Khunti and Hazaribagh districts. CRPF officials said the Cobra commandos would lend tactical advantage to the paramilitary backbone.