With Coimbatore having close to 39 roads leading to Kerala, which recently witnessed attacks by naxals, Tamil Nadu police are focusing on improving their relationship with those living in remote hamlets along the border for getting real-time intelligence inputs, according to sources.
Stepping up cordial relationship with tribal people and intelligence-gathering on a real-time basis in addition to fortification of the border is one of the proactive measures that the police in West Zone believe in preventing infiltration of Maoists into the State.
While police sources said there were 39 paths, including main roads and village roads that connect Coimbatore district in Tamil Nadu with Palakkad district in Kerala, Inspector General of Police (IG) for West Zone K. Shankar said it would not be possible to deploy police personnel for monitoring movement of people on all these paths. However, there are check posts that keep tab on people’s movements.
“We have strengthened our intelligence-gathering mechanism so that movement of strangers reached us on a real time basis,” he told The Hindu . Some of the outreach programmes conducted towards this initiative included improved community policing, organising grievance redressal meetings for the people of those hamlets and initiating steps to redress their grievances through the district administration.
The IG said that 60 tribal youth were recruited as Home Guards five months ago and 30 each were deployed in Coimbatore and the Nilgiris.
After training now they are assisting the police in various aspects of policing – including intelligence-gathering - during the last three months. “Police in these two districts will also organise sports tournaments for tribal youth in December and January to strengthen their ties with the villagers,” he said.
Strengthening stations
Police are also increasing manpower and sprucing up facilities in police stations close to the border. Mr. Shankar said ten stations in The Nilgiris and six in Coimbatore district are close to the border. Most of these stations have a sanctioned strength of 30 personnel. But the available strength at these stations was much less till the end of 2014.
After the Maoist attack on a forest range office in Kerala (last December), 20 per cent of the vacancies were filled up. Ninety personnel from the Tamil Nadu Special Police (TSP) have been deployed to make up the shortage earlier this year.
“With these measures, the stations have about 80 per cent of the sanctioned strength,” the IG said and added that they have also sent a proposal seeking an additional police station in Coimbatore district to improve vigil on the border. Construction of compound walls is under way at the border police stations, Mr. Shankar added.
They are improving relationship with those living in remote villages
