No additional battalion for Orissa to contain maoists

Bhubaneswar, Sep 23 (UNI) Central Reserve Police Force(CRPF) Director General SIS Ahmed today said here that no more battalions would be deployed in Orissa to contain maoist activities in the state.

Presently, four CRPF battalions had been deployed in the maoist-affected districts of the state,'' Mr Ahmed today said and added, ''There is a constant demand for more deployment but we do not have spare battalions to deploy here at the moment.'' The Director General was here to chalk out a strategy to counter the insurgency launched by the maoists in eight states including Orissa.

Mr Ahmed claimed that the level of insurgent activities in Jammu and Kashmir came down after the deployment of CRPF personnel in the state.

He said the CRPF, which has expertise in fighting insurgency was also very sucessful in containing militancy in Punjab.

The Director General said that Chhattisgarh was the worst-affected due to maoist violence. The CRPF had lost 36 personnel to maoist violence in 2006 and 27 in 2007. However, the CRPF managed to control the situation to a great extent.

He said the Salwa Judum model adopted by the CRPF to control insurgency in Chhattisgarh was area specific and could not be replicated in other states.

UNI