A red alert has been sounded across Andhra Pradesh and security stepped up for Chief Minister K. Rosaiah, Ministers, MPs, MLAs, MLCs and other VIPs in the wake of the ghastly killing of over 70 CRPF personnel in an ambush by naxalites in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh on Tuesday.
Highly placed sources told this correspondent that all VIPs have been advised to avoid travel for sometime and stay put at their place. As part of the enhanced security, special attention was being given to those known to have been on the hit list of the extremists. These steps were being taken in a bid to prevent them from facing any kind of risk from the naxalite cadres operating in the State.
Also the check-posts and vulnerable points on the borders with other States, particularly Chhattisgarh, have been strengthened with deployment of Greyhounds, the anti-naxalite elite force.
Police deployment was also enhanced at the Secretariat here and around important government offices in districts, especially those bordering Orissa such as Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam. Curbs were imposed on entry into the Secretariat and visitors with passes were allowed after frisking.
There was elaborate security to the Chief Minister during his visit to Mahabubnagar to lay the foundation stone for the Rs. 864-crore World Bank-aided rural drinking water project. Uniformed men occupied every vantage point of the roads.
In the absence of the Chief Minister in the capital, Chief Secretary S.V. Prasad reviewed the law and order situation with Director General of Police R. Girish Kumar, Inspector-General of Police M. Mahender Reddy and other top police brass.
Border points
Mr. Prasad was stated to have instructed the police to seal the border points of the State lest they be used as escape routes by the very naxalites who attacked the police party in Chhattisgarh. Police officials were also asked to share intelligence inputs about the possible movement of naxalites, if any, with their Chhattisgarh counterparts.
