Anti-Naxal operations: 30 new bases to be opened in Chhattisgarh; forces to intensify action

New Delhi/Raipur, Sep 6 (PTI) Security forces will open more than 30 new forward bases and special units of the CRPF and its CoBRA battalion will further move "deep inside" to target top Maoist leaders in Chhattisgarh as part of a fresh plan drawn to meet the deadline of ending Naxalism from the country by March 2026, offical sources said Saturday.

A high-level meeting was held in state capital Raipur on Friday with Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) Tapan Deka, CRPF Director General (DG) Gyanendra Pratap Singh, Chhattisgarh DGP Arun Dev Gautam and other senior officials in attendance.

The meeting on anti-Naxal operations reviewed the deployment of the forces and their requirements for the new units, which will further go deep inside. It has been decided to open more than 30 new forward operation bases (FOBs) in the remote locations of the Bastar region after the end of monsoon rains to further intensify the offensive, the sources told PTI.

The majority of this work will be done by the units of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) while its special jungle warfare battalion CoBRA will be further traversing into core Naxal-affected areas of the state, they said.

The meeting was held to review the progress of the operations and plan new ones, keeping in mind the Union government's declared deadline of ending the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) from the country by March 2026, according to the sources in the security establishment The Bastar region of Chhattisgarh remains the last bastion where some Naxalite presence and violent activities are taking place.

The forces like CoBRA and District Reserve Guard (DRG) of Chhattisgarh Police have been directed to target the remaining leadership of Maoists, the sources said.

The results are already being achieved with the killing of a number of Naxal cadres, and "if the current pace of operations goes good, chances are that the deadline to end Naxalism from the country can be met by December 2025 or January 2026," a top officer said.

Some new units brought in by the CRPF from Jharkhand and other states in the recent past have also entrenched themselves in the existing FOBs and they will further move forward, according to the decision of the latest meeting, the sources said.

The CRPF and other forces have created around 50 FOBs in the state over the last few years. These are bases built in remote Naxal areas meant to support security forces' operations.

CRPF DG Singh and Chhattisgarh DGP Arun Dev Gautam also held a separate meeting on the subject in Jagdalpur on Saturday.

"The deliberations centred on enhancing synergy between security forces, intelligence agencies and the administration to strengthen peace efforts and eradicate Naxalism from the state," the CRPF said in a social media post.

The CRPF DG, before this meeting, also laid a wreath at the martyrs' memorial built recently by the force at its campus in Kondagaon district, the gateway to Bastar.

The memorial honours the memory of the 460 brave CRPF personnel, including 20 officers, who were killed in the line of duty in the Bastar region between 2003 and August 15, 2005.

At least 230 Naxalites have been killed in separate encounters in Chhattisgarh so far this year, according to the state police.

Of these, 209 were eliminated in the Bastar division, which comprises Bijapur, Bastar, Kanker, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Sukma and Dantewada districts. PTI NES SHS RT RT