AP Govt to beef up greyhounds strength

Hyderabad, July 4 (UNI) Andhra Pradesh Government today announced that the strength of the elite Greyhounds anti-naxal force would be beefed up by 1000 to 2000 police personnel in the bid to curb naxalism.

State Home Minister K Jana Reddy told newspersons here that the government will also conduct a probe into the naxalite attack on the Greyhounds party on June 29 on the border with Orissa to fix responsibility and take measures to prevent recurrence of such incidents.

''We have recruited 1500 police personnel for the Greyhounds issuing notification for 1800 posts. We will not hestitate to recruit even one lakh personnel to free the state of the meance of naxalism,'' he added.

With today's retrieval of eight more bodies, so far 18 bodies had been recovered from the casized boat. Search was on for 21 other personnel, the Minister said.

''We are trying to retrieve the boat with local expertise and if needed we will press into service necessary equipment from the Navy or irrigation department for the purpose,'' he said.

As directed by the Centre, the State Government would work in close coordination with naxalite-infested neighbouring states to curb the four-decade old extremism, he said.

Replying to a question, he said the government was not not under any ''illusion'' that the insurgency had been totally brought under control. Certainly, the government had weakened naxalism in the state, he asserted.

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