Chhattisgarh sets up committee to probe security lapse

Raipur, July 17 (UNI) The Chhattisgarh government has set up a two-member committee to probe into the ''security lapses'' leading to the naxalite attack on a relief camp at Erabor in tribal Bastar in which 26 people were killed and several others injured early this morning.

State home minister Ram Vichar Netam told newspersons tonight that the Chief Minister's Principal Secretary Vivek Dhand and Additional Director General of Police A K Shrivastava would visit Erabor in Dantewara district to review the situation. The committee has been asked to submit its report within a week.

''It is a matter of serious concern that how such an incident took place at Erabor where para-military forces of the Central reserve Police Force (CRPF) had been deployed'', the minister said adding that the two-member committee would look into all circumstances that led to the incident.

Mr Netam said the decision to set up the committee was taken at an emergency meeting of the state cabinet, presided over by Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh.

The cabinet had also set up a three member high-powered committee, headed by the chief minister himself, to review the strategy to deal with the problem of naxalites and to decide on the needs of the naxalite infested areas.

The committee, comprising Home Minister as well as the Chief Secretary, would closely monitor and take decisions to meet the requirements of the tribal areas facing naxalite problem.

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