Finally, the Indian Army has set its foot on the conflict zone of Bastar, arg-uably the strongest military base of outlawed CPI(Maoist) in Chhattisgarh.
A reconnaissance party of Indian Army on Saturday evening landed at Kondagaon in Bastar division’s Narayanpur district to pave way for deployment of the Infantry Division of the Central Command, Lucknow, to establish an Army training centre in the area.
Heavily escorted by armed security personnel, the team comprising two-dozen personnel of the Army travelled all the way from Raipur to Kondagaon, nearly 500 km away, on road by a fleet of military vehicles.
“The team is scheduled to undertake reconnaissance of an area of nearly 100-sq-km at the foothills of Abujhmad, identified for setting up the training centre. The Army officers are also scheduled to interact with state government officials, police top brass and forest officials to identify the suitable location for establishing the training camp,” the sources said. The team would submit its report to the Central Command pertaining to feasibility of the area for establishing the training centre without tampering with the local flora and fauna or causing displacement of the local population. Abujhmad, a thickly forested plateau straddling both Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, is the only region of India unsurveyed by the government. The region is considered out of bounds for the government, entirely controlled by insurgents, and often described as Maoist liberated zone.
“The Army would need to secure the area before establishing the training centre. That means, the rebels would certainly feel the heat on their own stronghold,” sources said indicating the impact of the presence of Army on the ongoing anti-Maoist operations.