De-inducted after more than a year of sustained anti-Naxal operations, barely a week before the strike on April 6, the officer candidly admitted that “the only real successes” across the Bastar division have been achieved by Special Police Officers (SPOs) who are essentially tribal boys employed by the Chhattisgarh police on a temporary basis.
Requesting anonymity, the officer said, “Working on a measly monthly salary of Rs 3,000 per month after short training stints, these fellows (SPOs) have demonstrated their capacity to literally melt into the forests and take on the Maoists on their own turf, largely employing the same tactics.”
According to him, there have been many instances wherein batches of up to 200 SPOs armed with Indian Army regulation INSAS rifles and AK-47s have quietly fanned out into the forests and returned several days later after neutralising key Naxal strongholds. “Despite the huge constraints, several Maoist gun factories were demolished and over 700 kg of explosives were recovered over the past year,” he said.
Even though an estimated 2,000 regular police personnel are officially deployed on anti-Naxal operations, “almost all the real police work has been outsourced to these tribal SPOs” because policing in Chhattisgarh is simply not accompanied with the advantages available elsewhere. “These boys are completely familiar with the terrain and have jungle survival skills honed over generations, and this alone gives them a huge advantage over any other fighting force, including the CRPF. Our men have to struggle with everything — the language, the lay of the land,” the officer said.
But not entirely discounting the relevance of Central paramilitary forces in anti-Naxal operations, he said besides strengthening the local police force with enhanced recruitment from tribal areas, the ministry of home affairs must actively consider bolstering CPMF deployment in Chhattisgarh.
“The Bastar division, which alone covers nearly 40,000 sq. km of densely forested area, has just 13 paramilitary battalions. In contrast, the 6,000-sq.-km Kashmir Valley is being secured by tens of thousands of soldiers, including the Army and the BSF,” he said.
Also joining the much-debated issue of deploying the IAF for counter-insurgency operations with a view that could not possibly be closer to the ground, he said IAF helicopter units must be brought in for rapid force deployment and casualty evacuation.
“The knowledge that they can be quickly evacuated in the event of injury would serve as a massive morale booster and give a psychological advantage to our boys who are at present reluctant to engage the Maoists because they know many among them would be left to die,” the CRPF officer said.
Asit Jolly