The Army may soon be pressed into service for clearing forests in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region of mines, which have proved to be a major bottleneck in effectively countering the Maoists in the state, a senior police officer said here on Sunday. The proposal to engage Army experts in de-mining the forests was sent by the state
police soon after the May 17 Chingawara incident, in which the Naxals had blown up a passenger bus by triggering landmine blasts and killed 35 people, the officer said, adding, “It has received favourable response from the Centre.”
“It will no doubt be a massive exercise, which requires use of latest technology and a huge manpower having expertise in the field. We have already informed the Centre that neither the state police nor the Central paramilitary forces has the technology and resources to undertake demining in such a scale,” the police officer told this newspaper, unwilling to be quoted. Nearly 25,000 sq km of the total 40,000 sq km forest areas in Bastar region have been heavily mined by the Maoists. The explosive devices have been planted at strategic places under the roads passing through the jungles. The ultras have the map of the mined places and can trigger blasts at their will.
Police sources said Maoists often dig tunnels on either side of a road to reach the concrete top from below to plant the IEDs.
“This is the most effective way of planting an IED without disturbing the crust. Besides, the technique demands very less time to fit an IED, making it easier for the rebels to choose their targets,” he added.
The CPI (Maoist) has gained the expertise on the technique from LTTE in Sri Lanka. They had used it in Andhra Pradesh with devastating effect till late 80s. The ultras, were, however, hounded out of AP by the local police, forcing them to shift their base to Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal in the early 90s. They have adopted the way to mine rampantly the forests of these states, he said.
The director general of police (DGP) of Chhattisgarh, Vishwa Ranjan, had earlier indicated that anti-Maoist operations cannot be carried out in remote areas of Bastar without demining the forests.