After the Maoist attack on the security forces near Bijapur in Chhattisgarh on April 3, eight from the District Reserve Guard (DRG), seven from the CRPF’s CoBRA, six from the Special Task Force and one from the Battalion Bastariya left behind Of the dead and over 31 injured of the CRPF, the security forces in the border region Andhra-Odisha (AOB) have stepped up surveillance and combing operations on both sides of the border.
Possible routes
With the security forces in Chhattisgarh tracking the attackers, the left-wing extremists can either penetrate deeper into the Abuj Madh area in the Narayanpur-Dantewada-Bastar region or into Sukma.
The possibility that the Maoists will move to Telangana or Maharashtra is less, as the borders in both states are well secured.
The chances that the attackers will sneak through Sukma into the Malkangiri area of Odisha and then move on to the AOB region are slim, says a senior secret service officer of the anti-Maoist operation.
Usually after such a large attack, the members of the group gather again in one place and then take different routes to reach their strongholds, he says.
In Chhattisgarh, the Maoist strongholds or so-called “liberated zones” are Bijapur, Narayanpur, Kanker, Dantewada, Sukma, Bastar, Kondagaon and Rajnandgaon.
“Take no chances”
“The chances that they will move in the direction of the AOB are lower. But we never know. So appropriate action is being taken, ”says a senior police officer.
The Maoist presence in the AOB regions has decreased over the years. Aside from the Pedabayalu Area Committee, their existence is negligible, he says. They are mainly dependent on militiamen as their cadre has declined over the past ten years.
It is known that most of their high-ranking leaders such as Akkiraju Haragopal aka RK, Chalapathi and Gajarla Ravi aka Uday, the secretary of the Andhra-Odish Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC), are no longer in the AOB region and have moved to the Sukma or Dantewada regions. Operations in the region are left to Aruna and Kakuri Pandana aka Jagan.
But since the Maoists launched a one-year Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign (TCOC), the security forces have also stepped up countermeasures.
After a series of setbacks and few new hires, the Maoists planned the TCOC to demonstrate their presence and regain trust among the tribal peoples.
Usually the annual TCOC is organized from January to June when summer is at its peak, as visibility is better due to less green space. They return to their caves during the monsoons.
The strength of the cadre is dwindling
In the AOB region, TCOC is difficult at this point as they are on the run and their cadre has diminished.
During the TCOC, their tactics were to provide false information and if the security forces were taken for it, they would be ambushed or an IED attack.
“It happened in the past and we learned our lessons. We never follow the wrong example. We strictly adhere to our SOP. And that’s why the TCOC has failed in that part of the region and we are in a dominant position to push it back, ”said a senior official involved in the anti-Maoist operation in the AOB region.