Ranchi, July 4: A new police station was inaugurated on the Ranchi-Jamshedpur stretch of NH-33 in Taimara Valley, some 30km from the capital, in a strategic move to cut off a key transit route used by extremists to sneak into Ranchi and Khunti districts.
The Dassam Fall thana, barely 5km away from the scenic tourist hotspot, has been carved out of Bundu police station, beefing up security in this rebel-hit area. The new police station, set up at the building earlier used by SSB, will have jurisdiction over three panchayats - Taimara, Churgi and Gamharia.
State DGP D.K. Pandey, doing the honours, said: "Maoists are cowards for they target innocent villagers. They cannot fight police face to face, so they use villagers as human shields. But their time is over."
South Chotanagpur range DIG R.K. Dhan, Ranchi SSP Kuldeep Dwivedi, Ranchi SP (rural) Rajkumar Lakra, ASP (Operations) Harshpal Singh and Bundu SDPO Pawan Kumar were also present.
Sources in the police headquarters said the decision to set up a police station near the falls was taken considering several security aspects.
"The area has long been used by Maoists as a safe transit route, connecting Saranda and Porahat (in West Singhbhum district) with Ranchi and Khunti. Thus, it is important for police to sanitise and dominate the stretch," said a senior officer of the Special Branch of Jharkhand police.
Intelligence reports suggest Maoists have been active in villages like Gaijara, Pansakam and Hanjet.
"We have intelligence report that Amit Munda, who is currently Saranda in-charge of the CPI(Maoist), is desperate to resurrect base in Bundu," said another officer.
In February, security forces had gunned down four Maoists in the area while they were coming from Porahat forests. Walkie-talkies, 95 live cartridges of AK-47, two 303 rifles along with 40 live cartridges, two self-loading rifles and Rs 6,36,900 were also recovered from the site.
This apart, the police station will provide security cover to tourists. "Dassam falls is a favourite and famous tourist destination. Some law and order problem was felt in the area," said Ranchi SSP Dwivedi.
Also, Taimara Valley is an accident-prone zone with an alarming highway crime rate.
A community feast was organised on the premises of the new thana, which was attended by around 1,000 villagers.
The senior police officers also handed over books, clothes, stitching machines, solar lamps to the villagers on the occasion as part of community policing to win over the confidence of local people.
Bundu SDPO Pawan Kumar said so far 60 personnel from State Auxiliary Police had been deployed while Pankaj Kumar Tiwari had been appointed as the officer in-charge of this thana.
