Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam   

New strategy by Maoists, says SP

VISAKHAPATNAM: The banned CPI (Maoist) stepping up violence in Visakha Agency area during the last one month or so could be a tactical move, felt Superintendent of Police Vineet Brij Lal here on Thursday.

Talking to reporters the SP said that the Maoists activity was being observed in Pedabayalu and Munchingput mandals. This could be a new strategy of Maoists as they were mainly concentrated and active in Orissa in the Andhra-Orissa border (AOB) region and to escape pressure from the police there after the Narayanapatna incident and another reason might be because the AP police were now more engaged with the ongoing agitation on the Telangana issue. During the last few incidents it was noticed that the Maoists, who would come into Andhra area from Orissa and retreat after committing a crime, were foraying deeper into the Andhra area instead of their usual practice of creating incidents very near the border on Andhra side.

The AP police on their part were conducting orientation for its forces by conducting discussions on their operations to find out strengths and weaknesses. Violence witnessed during some incidents during the ongoing agitation might be related to the Maoists, he said. Visakhapatnam district received two platoons of APSP force, consisting of 60 members, and with 400 Armed Reserve and 900 civil policemen, the force was sufficient to deal with the present level of agitation. On the reports that some of the Maoists leaders were moving around in the Agency area, Mr. Brij Lal said that the terrain in the district was their advantage and it was not possible to establish the communication network all over the area.

A 9 m.m. pistol along with 10 round of ammunition was found missing from the Chintapalli Police Station and Assistant SP of Chintapalli S. Syamsundar is conducting an inquiry. The pistol was given to the police station to be used when needed and it was reportedly lost during the weekly shandy held at Chintapalli.

The district police released posters as part of its campaign to contain the activities of the CPI (Maoist). Superintendent of Police Vineet Brij Lal on Thursday released posters with photos of 48 Maoist leaders and active dalam members in Visakhapatnam district along with details of reward on their heads, the destruction of vehicles engaged in laying roads in the Visakha Agency area and on the Maoists encouraging cultivation of ganja by the Girijans.

During the last two years, the Maoists disrupted work on laying of 10 roads in the Agency area by burning the vehicles engaged in the work on the plea that the roads were meant for bauxite mining. But the roads were in Pedabayalu, Munchingput and G. Madugula where bauxite mining was not planned. “This is a hypocrisy on the part of Maoists. By disrupting work on roads, they are also denying transport facility to the Girijans, for whom they are claiming to be fighting. They are not allowing road laying as they are scared of losing hold over the area”, Mr. Brij Lal said. He called upon the Girijans to chase away the Maoists when road was disrupted. Recently villagers of Boodaralla in Koyyuru mandal did not respond to a call from the Maoists to attend a meeting, he pointed out.

The poster on Maoist leaders has photos and details of top leaders like Ganapathi, Ganganna, RK, Jampanna, Bhaskar, Sudhakar and also active cadre. Reward on the heads of these Maoists ranged from Rs. 12 lakhs to Rs. 20,000. there are 67 underground cadre in the district.

Poster on the ganja cultivation has photos of ganja crop being raised by the Girijans at the behest of Maoists, who the SP alleged were allowing each Girijan family to raise 200 plants. Some Girijans arrested recently in the ganja cases revealed that the Maoists were receiving some cut from the traders from Kerala and Tamil Nadu who were financing the cultivation and smuggling ganja to other parts of the country, Mr. Brij Lal said.

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