Director-General of Police M. Mahender Reddy on Thursday underscored the importance of gathering intelligence at the grassroots level to control Maoist activities. He asked police officials to include at least 100 people in each village as part of the information network.
The DGP told a meeting of police officials at Asifabad, the headquarters town of Kumram Bheem Asifabad, that at least 50 of the 100 ‘informants’ in the network were bound to provide tip-off with regard to Maoist activity. The information coming from the common public was never wrong, he opined.
Top police officials in the State accompanied Mr. Mahender Reddy on this visit, which came with the December election as background. The meeting was aimed at spurring the officials in view of the anticipated violence by extremists during election. Inspector-General of Police (Grey Hounds) Srinivas Reddy assured the KB Asifabad district police that additional parties of the specialised force were at their beck and call. He said a couple of additional parties would be allocated to the district. The DGP also interacted with police officials working in the district. Among those who attended the meeting were North Zone IG Y. Nagi Reddy, Intelligence IG Navin Chand, DIG SIB Prabhakar, Karimnagar Range DIG P. Promod Kumar and SP SIB Narsing Rao besides KB Asifabad SP M. Malla Reddy.
Intrusion ruled out
At a meeting at Godavari Khani, Mr Mahender Reddy ruled out intrusion of Maoists into the State. “Even if they (naxalites) try to intrude, we will chase them away from the State”, he maintained. The DGP was at Godavarikhani to conduct a poll-preparedness meeting with the Ramagundam Commissionerate of Police comprising both Peddapalli and Mancherial districts at the NTPC conference hall. Talking to newsmen, the DGP said they had deployed additional police forces all along the borders of the State with Maharashtra and Chattisgarh. Stating that they were sharing intelligence from neighbouring states on the movement of naxalites, he said they were taking all measures for incident-free elections in the State. He reiterated that they would ensure free and peaceful environment for the people to exercise their franchise without any fear. He asked the police officials to coordinate with revenue and election officials for the smooth conduct of elections.
Earlier, Ramagundam Commissioner of Police V Satyanarayana received the DGP and other senior police officials at the NTPC helipad in the township. IG Intelligence IG Naveen Chand, North Zone IG Y Nagi Reddy, and Karimnagar range DIG Pramod Kumar, were present.