The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Police, Maoists try to outwit each other

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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Police, Maoists try to outwit each other

K. Srinivas Reddy

Maoist fighters, assisted by armed militia members, sent to agency areas of Visakhapatnam

Sudden surge in Maoist violence in agency areas of Vizag, Vizianagaram
Maoist plan aimed at blunting police-ITDA initiative to help tribal youth

HYDERABAD: Maoists have sent nearly 45 heavily armed rebel fighters into the agency areas of Visakhapatnam, in an effort to reclaim control over the vast expanse of the most inaccessible forested areas which share borders with Orissa.

The heavily armed guerrilla fighters of the 3rd company of the Central Regional Command (CRC) have been indulging in a rash of violent incidents, the latest one being the landmine blast killing three civilians travelling in a jeep on Tuesday night. The rebels, security forces say, announced in Korukonda on Thursday night that they blew up the vehicle, thinking it was a police jeep. These fighters are believed to be assisted by nearly 100 armed militia members, taking the entire armed cadre strength to 145.

The sudden surge in violence in the agency areas this year – 11 murders (of the 16 killings in the State) and 38 other offences ranging from attacks to arson – is aimed at blunting the initiative of the police and ITDA to win over the tribal youth by helping them get jobs under ‘Yuvashakti' programme. Police and ITDA officials have been training and motivating youth to get employment. So far more than 300 tribal youth, who studied up to tenth class, have been employed in Krishnapatnam port, factories in Vizianagaram and in private security agencies under this initiative.

Role models

Earning salaries ranging from Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,000 each, a huge sum by any standards in the forested areas, these youngsters have become role models for other unemployed tribal youth, potential recruits for the Maoist fighters. “We have identified nearly 2,000 youngsters who could get jobs. We are trying to motivate and train them so that they can get jobs,” says Vinit Brijlal, SP, Visakhapatnam Rural.

Seesaw battle

It is in this process of winning over tribal youth, in which the Maoist rebels and police are locking horns now. While the police strategy is to leave no ground for the Maoists to exploit, the rebels' efforts are to stage a comeback, a task which cannot be achieved without the active support of the tribals who appear to be siding with the police.

It is with this specific purpose, one of the three companies of fighters has been moved to Visakhapatnam agency areas. The other two companies operate in Koraput and Malkangiri of Orissa. The Maoists are currently focused on regaining the lost ground in areas bordering Orissa and Chhattisgarh, from where they were hounded out of the State nearly five years ago.

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