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AP police take to the air to counter PWG

M S Shanker in Hyderabad

After a successful year of combating the Naxalites of the outlawed People's War Group of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), the Andhra Pradesh police are set to strike at militant targets in the Dandakaranya forests, spread over four of the seven extremist-infested districts of the state, from the air.

The first surveillance aircraft to film the movements of the few dalams (Naxalite platoons) left in Warangal district has already been pressed into service.

District Superintendent of Police R P Thakur told Rediff On The NeT on the phone after an aerial survey of some PWG strongholds that the mini-aircraft will provide easy accessibility to hitherto inaccessible areas of the forest.

Incidentally, the Andhra Pradesh police are the first police force in the country to acquire such aircraft. Highly placed sources in the state home ministry said they will be acquiring three more aircraft for Karimnagar, Nizamabad and Adilabad districts.

"The precise location of the PWG training camps and places where dalam members hide can easily be traced by the equipment on the aircraft," Thakur said. According to him, photographs taken by highly sophisticated cameras fitted in the plane will come in handy in tracking down the extremists.

He admitted that visibility was marred by thick vegetation, but said the pictures could be used to read the movements of the Naxalites in autumn when the trees start shedding their foliage. "We are acquiring infra-red cameras for better vision in the jungles," he said. Moreover, he pointed out, firearms can be fixed onto the plane, if necessary. The aircraft can remain airborne for up to two hours.

Though there is no plan at present to bomb the Naxalite hideouts or fire at them from the skies, there is every possibility of the state government giving the green signal for such an assault on the eve of the assembly election in the state this year.

Last year was probably the worst one for the PWG in a long time. The extremists lost the upper hand in their stronghold, north Telangana, to the police. In all, 188 cadres were killed in encounters, with Karimnagar district topping the list with 63 casualties. There were no fewer than 112 exchanges of fire between the police and the Naxalites in Adilabad, Karimnagar, Nizamabad and Warangal districts. Of the 188 Naxals killed, 133 were eliminated in these north Telangana districts.

In turn, the extremists killed 128 persons and had 828 offences registered against them. But retaliation against the police was on a low key. The Motlagudem landmine blast in Warangal district, which killed 11 policemen, was the biggest incident of the year, followed by the landmine blast in the Chandrayanpalli forest area of Nizamabad district that resulted in the death of two Central Reserve Police Force personnel on the eve of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu's visit to Karimnagar.

Through the year, the police lost 22 men in north Telangana, including the sub-inspectors of Pasra (Warangal) and Chandruthy (Karimnagar) in landmine blasts.

The Andhra Pradesh state page

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