Chief Ministers of Naxal-hit states to meet on May 8

Chief ministers of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh are expected to take part in the crucial meeting where the anti-Naxal strategy will be reviewed, a senior Home Ministry official said. Chief secretaries and directors general of police of the 10 states will also attend besides chiefs of paramilitary forces. The official indicated that the meeting was planned a few days ago. 

The home minister on Tuesday said in Raipur that the meeting will review government’s strategy on battling Naxalites. As many as 25 CRPF personnel were on Monday killed in a Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district. On March 11, 12 paramilitary personnel were killed by the Naxals in the same district.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday directed acting chief of the CRPF and a top security officer to stay put in Chhattisgarh to ensure coordinated ‘targeted’ operations against the Naxals, apparently unhappy over the functioning of the paramilitary force.

The home minister’s directive came as he was apparently unhappy over the functioning of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) which has faced reverses in the recent past. 

He has conveyed to the CRPF brass to resolve some ‘inherent’ problems like weaponry, logistics and intelligence gathering mechanism to ensure lethality and better results by avoiding casualties in anti-Naxal operations, sources said.