Even as the government plans to mount Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for keeping surveillance on the movement of Maoists in Chhattisgarh and other naxal violence-affected States, Army Chief General V.K. Singh said on Thursday that the Dantewada massacre of 76 security personnel was the result of some “internal deficiencies” in terms of training and other related aspects.
General Singh said the CRPF battalion that bore the brunt of the Maoists' attack on Tuesday had not been trained by the Army, adding that so far, the Army had trained 39,000 personnel from the Central Para-Military Forces (CPMFs) and State police forces.
‘No homogenous units'
Gen. Singh, the first Army commando officer to have been appointed Army Chief, said the Central and State police forces did not send “homogenous” units for training from the Army, though the level of training imparted to them was of the same level as the one given to its units.
Replying to a question from journalists, Gen. Singh said the Union Home Ministry had so far not requested any assistance in the wake of Dantewada incident. The Army, however, had offered “some suggestions” to the Ministry, which it was examining.
Sources in the government said the deployment of UAVs, first in Chhattisgarh, would take place on a trial basis next week. They added that the UAVs would provide the “real time” information needed for conducting anti-naxal operations.
The UAVs, mainly of Israeli origin, can be stationed at 5,000 feet above the ground, cover an area of about 20 sq. km, and provide information to the ground forces for taking necessary action.
Division
The sources said the government was mulling over the idea of splitting the CRPF's mandate into two parts — one exclusively for counter-insurgency operations and another for law and order duties — for their better utilisation.
