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Orissa turns Naxal haven as AP, MP step up pressure

M I Khan in Bhubaneswar

The recent killing of a youth by Naxalites at Parlakhemundi has once again proved that southern Orissa bordering Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh has become a haven for the Peoples War Group.

But the influx has hardly put any pressure on the Orissa government which remains cool to the issue as the two neighbouring states step up operations against the PWG.

Confirming the influx into areas like Koraput, Rayagada, Gajpati and Malkangiri, state intelligence sources as well as the state home department officials said, "Whenever there is pressure on Naxalites in AP and MP, they migrate to southern Orissa."

A top home department official said the PWG held its crucial plenary in the dense forests between Gummalakshmipuram of Vizianagram district in AP and Rayagada in Orissa in the last week of December 1999. "This indicates that the PWG is keen to spread its wings in Orissa," intelligence sources observed.

The five PWG dalams (outfits) -- Jahanjabati, Korkunda, Tandab, Naulkunda and Ellaborum -- have already been active in the tribal dominated southern Orissa districts but the recent influx is likely to aggravate the situation in Orissa if not checked by the state government.

The southern Orissa police seems ill-prepared to face the problem which can be gauged from the fact that they have poor manpower and infrastructural facilities.

Sources in the state police department told rediff.com that there is no special task force to tackle the PWG whose cadres are equipped with the latest technology to disseminate information and conduct assaults.

This has put a question mark on the seriousness of the state government in tackling the Naxal problem.

Police sources said that about seven platoons of armed police have been deployed in Koraput and Malkangiri districts. However, in the absence of proper weapons and equipment, they are in no position to tackle the Naxalites.

"Our police forces do not have the kind of weapons their counterparts in the neighbouring states have," said a senior police official.

Sources also said the state government had promised to provide the police forces with necessary facilities and sophisticated weapons but there has been little progress on this front.

What is worse, there are no permanent police posts to check the influx of Naxalites -- which takes place primarily through villages in the Chtrakonda, Motu, Padia, Narayanpanta and Chatua areas -- in Koraput district.

Twenty anti-Naxalite pickets, which had been in operation in the district, were withdrawn in December 1998 following attacks on ANPs in Malkangiri district in the same month.

"This has further encouraged the PWG to enter the southern Orissa districts," sources said. It is an old PWG strategy to use Orissa as its emergency base in a bid to save itself from the clutches of the neighbouring police forces.

However, the state government seems to be caught in a dilemma as elections are round the corner. Facing the worst financial crunch, the Congress government is keen to throw its weight behind the super cyclone victims.

The state government has time and again blamed the Centre for not providing it with adequate funds to tackle the PWG. "The state government's oft-repeated plea for adequate funds has been cold-shouldered by the Centre," sources said.

But opposition Biju Janata Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party leaders counter this view by saying that the seriousness of the state government to arrest Naxalite activities can be gauged from the fact that the number of anti-Naxalite picketing posts -- 22 - has not changed in nearly three decades.

However, the state government said that it needs at least Rs 2 billion for developing infrastructural facilities and modernisation of the police force. It is in no position to allocate the necessary funds due to a crippling financial crunch.

Taking advantage of this, Naxalites have stepped up their activities in Koraput, Ganjam and Gajpati districts. There is little doubt that Naxalites are increasing their sympathisers among the poverty-stricken tribals.

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