A CRPF jawan on patrol

Bhubanerswar, May 19: A week after the Union home ministry said Odisha had failed to take requisite counter measures to check the spread of Naxalite activities in the state, the state government blamed limitations of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) followed by the paramilitary forces for obstacles in joint anti-Maoist operations.

“We would like to highlight the limitations of the SOP followed by the central paramilitary forces which is hindering operational efficiency. Unless the SOPs are suitably revised, the central forces cannot deliver the desired results,” the state’s director-general of police, Manmohan Praharaj, said in a letter to Union home secretary R.K. Singh.

Praharaj said operational issues were discussed at the recent meeting of the State Level Unified Command held in the state capital and that the security forces “have been put on offensive mode”. The meeting, chaired by the state’s chief secretary, was attended by top officials from the Border Security Force (BSF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

Eight battalions of the CRPF and five of the BSF are currently deployed in the Maoist-affected areas of the state.

Chief secretary Bijay Patnaik said: “Of course, they (the central forces) do have restrictions on duration of stay outside their camp and carrying out operations. But our anti-Maoist Special Operation Group personnel do not have any such restrictions.”

“We given some suggestions to the Centre on how to carry out more effective anti-Maoist operations,” said the chief secretary, who heads the State Level Unified Command, which met on May 11.

Senior state police officials associated with the joint anti-Maoist operations in the state agreed that there were some limitations in the Standard Operating Procedures followed by the central paramilitary forces that affect operational efficiency. “Usually, security forces have to stay in the forest for days together to carry out combing operations. But the central forces are permitted to stay out of their bases for 48 hours only,” said an official.

Also, the central forces were not allowed to move out for an operation in vehicles, because of which their area of operation was restricted within seven to eight km, a senior cop said.

According to their Standard Operating Procedure, it is mandatory for central forces to move in platoons. However, it is the practice in the state’s elite anti-Naxal force, Special Operation Group, to split into smaller groups and move out for operations, which is easier and more effective.

“We are trying our best to have the best of relationship with the central forces and to have operational cohesion,” said the state’s top cop.

An advisory issued by the Union home ministry to the state government a few days ago had said: “Odisha is the only state in India where activities of the CPI(Maoist) are spreading to new areas at an alarming rate without requisite counter measures by the state government.”

Projecting that the Odisha would overtake Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand in terms of Maoist violence and influence within three years, the Centre had asked the state government to rework its strategy.

The home ministry was of the view that while the Maoist influence was contracting in other states, it was expanding in Odisha. Refuting the Centre’s contentions, the Odisha government has recently claimed that the “overall situation has shown improvement”. The quantum of violence as well as casualties have decreased in Odisha in 2011, compared to the previous year.

“Most of the successes in anti-Maoist operations have been achieved by precise intelligence-based surgical operations conducted by smaller number of teams of security forces,” said the DGP in his reply to the Centre.

Giving credit to the state police for the successes, Praharaj said: “The strategic command centre of the State Operation Wing plans and monitors all the operations and coordinates with districts and central paramilitary forces on joint operations.”