As part of a three-day routine exercise, the Naxalite Special Duty Wing of the Tamil Nadu police has been combing the hilly areas and forests bordering Andhra Pradesh, especially in Vellore range and in Tiruvallur district.
The special wing has presence in 13 districts of Tamil Nadu, including Tiruvallur, Vellore, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Coimbatore, Nilgiris, Theni, Virudhunagar and Kanniyakumari.
On Thursday and Friday, the wing in Tiruvallur, headed by inspector Vijay and comprising a sub-inspector and 10 constables, conducted combing operations from Oottal to Machambetu near Ambur, covering an area spread over 25 km.
On Saturday, the team walked through forest areas from Sivanathapuram, bordering Andhra Pradesh, to Thottikenaru for 5 km and interacted with the villagers.
Three-pronged approach
According to senior police officers, this is a routine exercise with a three-pronged approach — gather intelligence about naxals, understand the problems faced by the villagers and solve them to prevent the village youth from being drawn by the naxals into their movement. The movement of the police is expected to reduce naxal activity in these localities.
The team was trained from August last year. There are two duties for the wing. The personnel spend four days in interior villages bordering Andhra Pradesh, where even the policemen don’t go.
“We spend an entire day in one village and teach them how the naxals infiltrate, who they are, what type of help they ask for and how to approach the police if needed. We understand what basic amenities they need and convey it to the district administration,” said a senior police officer.
Apart from this, the wing carries out three-day combing operations. “The personnel walk through the forest with weapons such as AK 47 and other automatic weapons to understand the naxal movement. They check deep forests where no one goes,” added the officer.
