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Unified Command against Naxalites in Chhattisgarh

Raipur: A Unified Command comprising officials of the Centre and the State governments will tackle the naxalite menace in Chhattisgarh, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil announced on Thursday night. It was decided to have a Unified Command, as in Jammu and Kashmir and Assam, led by the Chief Minister, to have a better coordination between State and Central forces to deal with the menace, Mr. Patil told reporters at the Raj Bhawan after a meeting on the problem.

To avoid a situation of the State forces working under Central forces or vice versa, it was decided to put the command under the Chief Minister, he said. Besides Mr. Patil and Mr. Singh, the meeting was also attended by Union Special Secretary Internal Security M.L. Kumawat, CRPF DG SIS Ahmad, Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, Home Minister Ram Vichar Netam, Chief Secretary Shivraj Singh and DGP Vishwaranjan.

Chhattisgarh has 13 battalions of Central paramilitary forces deployed for anti-naxal operations with the operational command under the State DGP. There were reports of differences over the style of operations and in dealing with the Maoists by both the forces. — PTI

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