Bhubaneswar, June 27: Union home secretary designate Anil Goswami today reviewed the situation in the state’s Maoist-hit areas in a marathon session here.
Sources said the state government team made a presentation to Goswami about the situation prevailing in the Maoist-hit districts and the steps being taken to curb the Red menace.
Besides, a three-member team of the National Investigation Agency reached Malkangiri to quiz the two Maoists arrested for their alleged involvement in the May 25 attack on a Congress convoy in Chhattisgarh’s Darbha valley that killed 28 persons.
On his maiden visit to the state, Goswami was closeted with home secretary U.N. Behera, director-general of police (DGP) Prakash Mishra and other senior officials at the secretariat for over an hour. The bureaucrat also called on governor S.C. Jamir and chief minister Naveen Patnaik.
“I am here to understand the issues concerning the state and how to resolve them,” said Goswami following his meeting with the chief minister. Though he refused to comment on the reported lack of co-ordination between state police and the central forces deployed in the Maoist-dominated belt, sources said the issue had figured prominently in his meeting with the home secretary and the DGP, who were accompanied by intelligence officials.
Communication gap between state police force and the Border Security Force (BSF) battalions camping in Malkangiri and Koraput, the two districts worst hit by the Maoists, has been a major cause of concern for both state and central government officials. It has time and again hampered anti-Maoist operation in these districts where the rebel-backed Chasi Muliya Adivasi Sangh is also active.
The government’s presentation included details of operations mounted in various areas, strength of the police and paramilitary forces deployed there and the development initiatives launched by the state government to wean people away from the rebels in these regions. The Maoists have entrenched themselves in most of the southern and western Odisha districts by exploiting the poverty and underdevelopment of the people, especially members of the tribal communities and Dalits.
In another development, Malkangiri police chief Akhileshwar Singh said the investigation team, including a superintendent of police, an assistant superintendent of police and a sub-inspector rank officer, would quiz the Maoist duo of Ora Madhi and Kasa Kunjami. The Malkangiri sub-divisional judicial magistrate court has allowed the police to take them in remand for five days.
The duo have reportedly confessed to their involvement in the Darbha valley ambush.
