Unified unit to fight Maoists

The four worst Maoist-affected states — Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal — will set up Unified Command structures headed by the chief secretaries of each state for better coordination among police, paramilitary and intelligence agencies. The state governments will appoint a retired major-general of the Army as a member of the Unified Command to advise the state administration on anti-Maoist operations.

The decision was taken at a meeting convened by the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, with the Chief Ministers of five Maoist-affected states, the Jharkhand Governor and West Bengal health minister on Wednesday. The Union home minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, the finance minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, and the defence minister, Mr A.K. Antony, were also present at the meeting at the PM’s residence. The Maoist-hit states have unanimously asked the Centre for more "air support" in anti-Maoist operations.

Emphasising the need for a “state-specific approach”, Dr Singh cautioned that “inter-personal issues” cannot be allowed to come in the way of strategy to tackle Left-wing extremism. Laying emphasis on inter-state coordination in terms of intelligence-sharing , he said, “We must be, and also appear to be, united and one in our resolve and in execution of our strategies.” He stressed that Central and state forces should work in total coordination, “without any misunderstanding about each other”.

Citing the examples of Jammu and Kashmir and Assam, Mr Chidambaram said each state will have its own Unified Command. However, the states of Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra felt there was no immediate need for such a command.

While the home ministry has assured the deployment of 20-23 helicopters over a period of time by pulling out IAF helicopters from UN duties, it has said helicopters will only be used for logistical support, troop movements and evacuation. “No one made a specific mention of the Army. But the states have asked for air support,” Mr Chidambaram said when asked whether state governments have sought Army help. The state governments have asked the Army to hold special recruitment drives in Maoist areas to induct tribal youth. The demands raised by the state governments will be discussed at the meeting of the National Development Council (NDC) on July 24.

Keeping in view the existing 97,000 vacancies in the police forces, Dr Singh asked the CMs to set up a group under the chief secretary to evaluate the vacancy position, develop an appropriate incentive package for postings in difficult areas and thereafter ensure deployment in a time-bound manner.

“Perhaps we could target filling up one third of the vacancies within the next six months,” he said.

Maintaining that development of tribal areas has fallen behind, Dr Singh underlined that any development of tribal areas must ensure that the locals have a stake in it and are adequately compensated for displacement. “For far too long have our tribal brothers and sisters seen the administration in the form of rapacious forest guards, a brutal policeman, a greedy patwari,” he said.

The Centre has asked the seven Maoist-affected states to induct 16,000 special police officers to assist the security agencies. At present there are 13,500 SPOs in these states. The meeting also cleared the government’s proposal to establish and strengthen 400 police stations in Maoist-affected districts by sanctioning Rs 2 crore per police station on an 80:20 basis over a period of two years. Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal will also appoint an officer of the rank of inspector-general of police as IGP (anti-Maoist operations) for each state to coordinate operations with the CRPF, Mr Chidambaram said. Mr Chidambaram agreed there have been some setbacks in anti-Maoist operations, but maintained that the government will continue its two-pronged strategy of police action and development.

Amidst demands raised by states to include more districts in the Centre’s “focus district” scheme, which has 34 of the worst affected districts, the Centre has decided to set up an empowered group chaired by the member-secretary, Planning Commission, to modify existing guidelines for the implementation of various development schemes. The states sought more satellite phones for the police forces and an increase in the number of counter-intelligence training schools. The meeting also approved the raising of 34 battalions of the India Reserve Battalion (IRB) to combat Maoists. The home minister said redeployment of Central forces has been done in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa and will soon be reviewed in other states.

Mr Chidambaram said the Plan panel was considering a special development plan for the affected districts. "Consultations have been held with the state governments and it is expected that the plan will be placed before the NDC shortly for approval," he said.

Meanwhile, the Centre asked the states to implement the provisions of the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled) Areas Act strictly and vigorously to ensure that rights over minor forest produce are assigned to the gram sabhas and to remove the inter-position of government-controlled departments, corporations and cooperatives.