Nagpur: To be one step ahead of the Naxalites, the Gadchiroli police have prepared an exhaustive database of villages and rebel cadres operating in the district under the ‘Village Profiling’ programme. With this step, they hope to have information on who are the supporters of the banned outfit of Communist Party of India (Maoist).
Gadchiroli, which has 12 talukas, has a population of around 10 lakhs and is spread across 14,000 sq kms. The district, afflicted with Maoist violence for more than three-and-half decades, is the only stronghold of the rebels in Maharashtra (neighbouring district Gondia is known to be only marginally affected).
The district police, well aware that the rebels thrive mainly on the logistic support of the local tribal population, have almost completed the task of gathering detailed information of all villages and its residents.
DIG Ankush Shinde said the unique project has also helped the police “understand who are opposing the Naxalites too”. “Police now are now aware of the people of every village and their details,” he said.
A source in the police department said the system has helped them know about the activities of the villagers, their source of income and also socio-economic status. “We even know who is giving just moral support,” he said.
DIG Shinde said the Gadchiroli police now boasts of one of the best databases of the Maoist cadres in the nation. “The police are now equipped with not only names and details of the posts and positions of each cadre or the strengths and compositions of their dalams, platoons or companies, we also have their personal data,” he said.
This, he said, includes height and weight of the Naxalites, the arms they possesses and how good he or she is in using them. “If a particular Naxalite has some peculiarities even that is fed into the database,” said Shinde, adding that the ‘study and feedback’ system which the police department in Gadchiroli has developed has helped in developing the database.
The database also has names of people from every village who have joined some formations of the Maoists or are part of their units like Area Rakshak Dal (ARD) and Gram Rakshak Dal (GRD).
In the past, the state government had pushed the police to ensure villagers adopt ‘gaonbandi’ schemes. With this, the villagers are told that they would get government benefits and other facilities faster if they unanimously keep out Naxal cadres.
“Supporting the villagers and helping them are nothing new but there used to be no proper follow-up to such actions. We are now nurturing a relationship with every individual who has benefitted and ensuring that he is on our side,” said Gadchiroli SP Abhinav Deshmukh.