‘Naxal attacks dip morale of forces’
The three latest incidents of Naxal violence where the Maoists blew up an anti-landmine vehicle and targeted the police and CRPF personnel has dipped the morale of the security personnel fighting the insurgents. A senior CRPF official pointed out that the security personnel are becoming vulnerable to attacks by the Maoists because of lack of infrastructure in the camps where they are living. “There are no toilets. The temporary shelters lack basic facilities,” he said. A senior government official added that the security forces are facing a tough challenge since any move to carry out developmental works is stalled by the Maoists.
The twin attacks in the Bastar region on June 9 and 10 took place when the state police personnel went to relieve themselves in the interior areas and the second time when the CRPF personnel were on an area domination exercise. “The team had gone for an area domination exercise when they got ambushed. There were no specific intelligence inputs,” a CRPF official said.
Senior MHA officials here said there is a need for the security personnel to strictly adhere to the standard operating procedures to avoid any surprise attacks by the Maoists. The ministry is also ready with an ambitious plan to provide sophisticated weapons and other technology to the state police forces under its police modernisation scheme.
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‘Thomas was not cleared to serve’
New Delhi, June 12: After denying any communiqué from the Kerala government on the pending vigilance case against former CVC P.J. Thomas, the Centre has now made public a letter from the state which says he was not cleared to serve on central deputation.
The central public information officer of the department of personnel and training in an RTI response had earlier said no such letter was with them. But during the first appeal, deputy secretary R.K. Mittal overturned the previous reply.
“After going through the relevant papers and official records, it appears that the CPIO was not able to link up the letter with the file concerned. Accordingly, CPIO is directed to refer to file... and provide the relevant information,” Mr Mittal said in his order.
After the decision, the letter dated March 11, 2008 from the chief secretary of Kerala objecting to Mr Thomas’ deputation to the Centre was provided to activist S.C. Agrawal.
The communiqué has punctured the claims of DoPT that it was unaware about the ongoing vigilance case against Mr Thomas while short-listing his name for the post. —PTI
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