Bhubaneswar, March 22: The Orissa government has admitted that Maoist activities have spread to 19 districts and the number of civilian casualties in Naxal violence have gone up in 2010, compared to the previous year.

According to the white paper on law and order for 2010, prepared by the home department, at present, left wing extremist activities are taking place in 19 of the 30 districts. Earlier, the number of Maoist-affected districts was 15.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik had urged the Centre at the chief minister’s conference on internal security, held at New Delhi on February 1, for inclusion of four more districts — Kalahandi, Nuapada, Bargarh and Bolangir — under the Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme.

According to the white paper, as many as 75 persons were killed in Maoist violence in 2010 as against 71 casualties in 2009. The number of casualty of security personnel had come down in 2010. More number of civilians, however, were killed during the year under review, said the government. While 53 civilians were the victims of Maoist violence in 2010, the number of casualty was only 28 in 2009. “The number of civilian deaths has gone up as the Maoists are increasingly targeting innocent citizens branding them as police informers,” stated the white paper. The number of casualties of security personnel, on the other hand, came down to 33 in 2010 from 61 in 2009.

Though the Orissa government claimed that it had stepped up anti-Maoist operation in the state, there has been a decline in the death and arrest of Maoist cadres in 2010.

According to sources, only 12 Red rebels were killed in the anti-Maoist operation in 2010 as against 20 in the previous year. Similarly, 214 Maoist cadres were arrested in 2010, compared to 223 in 2009. However 44 ultras surrendered in 2010 as against 10 in 2009.

At present, 12 battalions of central paramilitary forces (seven CRPF battalions and five BSF battalions) have been deployed in the Maoist-affected areas of the state. Moreover, the Orissa government has constituted the Orissa Special Striking Force by recruiting retired defence personnel and deployed it in the Naxal-hit region. The government has constituted a state-level Unified Command, headed by the chief secretary, to monitor anti-Maoist operations. An inter-state joint task force has also been set up with neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand.

More than 15,000 posts of police personnel have been created in the past four years. Steps have also been taken to appoint 5,600 tribal youths as special police officers in the Maoist-affected districts.