A CRPF jawan was on Sunday killed in an IED blast triggered by Maoists in restive Sukma district of Bastar, official sources said. Head Constable K Venkanna sustained splinter injuries after a joint patrol of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and State Police were out for an operation in the Chintagufa area of the Maoist violence-hit district, they said.
The incident happened early morning around 5.30 am when the improvised explosive device (IED) blast took place, they said. The jawan was air evacuated to Raipur but he succumbed to his injuries, they added.
Venkanna hailed from Andhra Pradesh and belonged to the 150th battalion of the CRPF deployed in Chhattisgarh.
Chhattisgarh is among other insurgency infested States where highest 38 CRPF troopers were martyred in 15 incidents of Maoist attacks during the past six months as on June, 30, 2017, the Central Government had informed.
During the period, incidents of Maoists attacks in other insurgency infested States are as follows — Andhra Pradesh (1), Bihar (3), Jharkhand (4), Maharashtra (8) and Odisha (1).
The Central Government has a comprehensive National Policy and a multi-pronged action plan to deal with Left Wing Extremism comprising security related measures, developmental interventions and ensuring rights and entitlements of local communities etc, it informed.
On the other hand, the final list of tribals selected from Sukma district for the newly raised Bastar Battalion raised by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) for counter-insurgency operations had been released, an official statement issued in March this year had informed. It may be recalled that the recruitment process for all districts of insurgency infested Bastar region had been held earlier.
The newly being raised ‘Bastar Battalion’ by CRPF will have one-third women representation, officials informed.
The Bastar Battalion of CRPF is being raised by recruiting 744 Scheduled Tribe (ST) youths from four insurgency infested districts of Bastar in Chhattisgarh, the Central government has informed.
The districts from where the tribal youths are being recruited for the new Battalion are —Bijapur, Dantewada, Narayanpur and Sukma. The decision to set up a Tribal Battalion has been taken with a view to give more employment to the tribal youth keeping in mind their unique characteristics.
Earlier, the Union Cabinet under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also approved raising of four ‘India Reserve Battalions’ (IR Bns) for Chhattisgarh State to be deployed in LWE pockets of the State.
The Union Cabinet had announced to raise a total of 17 India Reserve Battalions (IR Bns) for Jammu & Kashmir and Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected States, officials stated.
It includes five IR Bns in the State of J&K, three IR Bns in Jharkhand, three IR Bns in Odisha and two IR Bns in Maharashtra including four for Chhattisgarh.
Notably, Chhattisgarh stands fourth in the country in terms of the number of districts affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE).
A total of 106 districts in the country are considered as Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected. Of these, Bihar State has maximum 22 districts, followed by Jharkhand (21), Odisha(19), Chhattisgarh (16), Andhra Pradesh and Telangana,- both 8 each, West Bengal and Maharashtra,- both 4 each, Uttar Pradesh,- 3 and Madhya Pradesh, one, the Central Government had informed last year.