Police of Three States to Launch Joint Offensive against Naxals

About a week after killing of 17 policemen in Gadchirolli, Maharashtra police chief SS Virk has said that a pool of police forces of three states – Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh – will be made soon for joint offensive to fight Naxals in the border areas of three states.

“What is contemplated here is a joint operation, and I think we should see better operations in time to come,” Virk said on Friday in an Idea Exchange Discussion.

He also informed that a specialised anti-Naxal training facility for Maharashtra Police was also on the anvil and men were already being trained at the Greyhounds Academy in Andhra Pradesh.

Virk said that the emphasis is on building expertise of cops to enable them to fight rebels more effectively as the state police is presently not properly equipped for the job.

“We have started late, and basic policing is a different game from (fighting) an armed militant struggle. So a force which is trained to maintain law and order and deal with ordinary crime finds it difficult to rise to an occasion and deal with weapons and face fire. As the force faces more violence and more blood, and takes part in more operations, it also results in professional maturity and experience which becomes expertise over a period of time,” said Virk.

“Basically, cops are trained for a different kind of job and what is required is specialised training which we have started and the central units which have come are trained in that kind of warfare,” he said.

Speaking on anti-Naxal training being provided to the state police, Virk said, “We are getting people trained in the Greyhounds Academy. We are also trying to create a training centre. We have contacted the Army to train some units.”

He added that a “handsome” incentive package, such as a one-step permanent seniority for officers excelling in anti-Naxal areas, was being worked out, and “is expected to materialise very soon.”