State wants return of CoBRA battalion

The Odisha Government has urged the Union Government to return back one CoBRA battalion of CRPF for deployment in the Maoist-hit cutoff areas of the State. This battalion was raised in Odisha for deployment in the State.

Home Secretary Asit Tripathy has urged Union Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha to consider the case on priority basis. Sinha recently reviewed the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) scenario in the State along with other affected areas.

With the high level bridge on the river Gurupriya opening the access to the cutoff areas of Malkangiri, deployment of security forces in these 151 villages needed to be taken on a priority basis.

The CoBRA battalion will be suitable for deployment in the area as the Jawans are familiar to the Red corridor.

One CoBRA battalion raised in 2009 at Sunabeda in Koraput has been withdrawn by the CRPF authorities and deployed in Chhattisgarh. While the CRPF DG has been requested to restore CoBRA battalion back to Odisha, Tripathy has urged the Cabinet Secretary to take up the matter as Odisha needs the battalion badly.

Now as the 910 meter long bridge is open for traffic since July 26, the State Government will have to deploy more security forces in the cutoff area as these are a hotbed of Maoist activities.

While the State Government is requesting the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for providing two more battalions of Central Armed Security Forces for deployment, instead the Centre has taken away the CoBRA battalion from Odisha, pointed out a senior officer in the State Police Headquarters.

Now there are 16 battalions of Central Armed Police Forces (BSF and CRPF eight each) deployed in several places in the State to combat the Maoist menace. This apart, Tripathy urged the Centre to allow to convert three Specialized Engineering India Reserve(IR) battalions to regular IR Battalion.

Earlier, the MHA had sanctioned six regular IR battalions and three Specialized Engineering Battalions.

The six regular IR battalions have already been raised and security component of the three Specialized Engineering Battalions has also been raised.

So the MHA has been requested to allow to turn these battalions as regular IR battalions for executing security assignments, said sources.

In fact, Odisha has huge strength of engineering capabilities with the Odisha State Police Housing and Welfare Corporation (OSPHWC) has the army of engineering staff.

Briefing the Union Cabinet Secretary on LWE front, it was pointed out that there is declining trend of Maoist violence, which is continuing since 2017.

While 129 violent incidents were reported in 2010, resulting 73 deaths, it has come down to 52 violent incidents resulting in death of 26 in 2017.

In percentage terms this translates to 60 per cent decrease in incidents and 64 per cent decline in death.

The trend is continuing in 2018 also and only 34 incidents have occurred and death has come down to eight by end of June, said sources.

And the geographical spread of Maoists has gone down and there are no Maoist activities in Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Subarnapur, Gajapati and Mayurbhanj.

However, the problem remains in Malkangiri, Koraput, Kalahandi and Rayagada, where there is requirement of deployment of security forces.