New CRPF chief undertakes special tour of Bastar in Chhattisgarh

New Delhi: Newly-appointed CRPF chief Prakash Mishra undertook a whirlwind tour of the worst Naxal violence-affected areas of Bastar in Chhattisgarh in order to firm up operations agaist the ultras in the state. The CRPF Director General, during his 29-30 December visit to the state, visited the area where Naxals killed 14 force personnel on 1 December and spent the night at the Chintagufa company base along the Dantewada-Sukma axis where he interacted with his troopers deployed for anti-Naxal operations.[caption id=“attachment_2026309” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Fighting the Maoists. Image courtesy PIB[/caption] Officials said Mishra was briefed about the operational strengths and weaknesses of the force during his stay at the Central Reserve Police Force camp as he instructed his men to keep up their morale and undertake quality operations against the Left Wing Extremists. The CRPF DG, the next day, travelled to worst Naxal violence-hit areas of Bijapur, Jagdalpur, Dantewada and Chintalnar during his maiden visit to any of the LWE areas after he took over the charge of the country’s largest paramilitary force on 20 December. The DG, officials said, was briefed about the intelligence setup and firepower of the force in the area, which is at the tri-junction of three states–Chhattsigarh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. “The DG met all the commanders of CRPF anti-Naxal operations units, CoBRA and state police in the region during his visit to Tadmetla as he asked them to firm up their offensives,” they said. Security forces have seen some of the worst Maoist ambushes and encounters in this area with the most deadly being the 6 April 2010 ambush in Dantewada in Bastar where 76 personnel, with 75 of CRPF, were killed. Mishra later met Chhattisgarh DGP A N Upadhyay in state capital Raipur. He was accompanied by CRPF Inspector General (Operations) Zulfiquar Hasan from Delhi and it’s IG (Chhattisgarh) HS Sidhu based in Raipur. The CRPF chief, a 1977-batch IPS officer and ex-DGP of Odisha, today also took over the additional charge of border guarding force ITBP as incumbent DG Subhas Goswami retired yesterday. PTI