Tension continues to prevail in the Agency areas of the district situated in close proximity to the restive inter-State border with Chhattisgarh as the Maoists gearing up to celebrate People’s Guerrilla Army (PGA) week early next month and the police bracing to tackle the upsurge in Maoist activities in Bhadrachalam Agency. The Maoists stepped up their activities along the porous inter-State border as was evident from the kidnap of six Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leaders of the Agency areas from Pusuguppa, a border village in Charla mandal, and their subsequent release near the same village by the rebels on Saturday.
They also intensified the poster campaign as precursor to the PGA week celebrations in the Agency areas signalling their intent to target the ruling party leaders if ‘fake encounters’ continued, enrol cadres into PGA and expand its base in the Agency areas.
In a bid to check the resurgence of Maoist activities in the Agency areas, the district police have stepped up counter-insurgency operations, bolstered security for VVIPs particularly prominent leaders of the ruling party, and activated intelligence network, police sources said.
Apart from issuing safety precautions to those on the Maoists’ ‘hit list’, the police department has strengthened the security cover to the VVIPs.
A MP-5 sub machine gun, a most sophisticated weapon known for its efficacy in close combat operations, has been allotted to one of the personal security officers of Minister for Roads and Buildings T Nageswara Rao, who hails from the district, a few days ago, sources said.
The most advanced MP-5 sub machine guns are mainly used by the elite commandos of the National Security Guard (NSG) and other well trained personnel of the security forces, sources added.
The new weapon will be of immense help in enhancing security cover to the VVIPs.
