In little over a year, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has set up new camps in at least 19 places in Chhattisgarh, data seen by HT has revealed.
Significantly, most of these camps are in the Maoist-hit Sukma and Bijapur districts of south Bastar, where a fierce battle for control between the security forces and the cadres of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) has been raging for many decades.
Senior CRPF officials said the 19 camps were set up starting January 2022, in areas where there was little permanent security presence. In February 2023 alone, CRPF opened camps in places such as Dubbamarka and Tondamarka in Sukma district, and Bedre and Chinnagellur in Bijapur district.
Around 39,000 CRPF personnel, who work in conjunction with the state police, are posted across Chhattisgarh to keep a lid on the Maoist conflict.
The seven districts of Bastar range — where the conflict between the state and left-wing extremists is most concentrated — are split between security agencies.
The Border Security Force (BSF) and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) operate in Kanker, Kondagaon and Narayanpur and the CRPF in Bastar district, Dantewada, Sukma and Bijapur. Further, six battalions of the CRPF’s elite COBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) battalion are posted across the districts where the CRPF operates.
To be sure, the opening of new camps is not new, and has been the focus of the Chhattisgarh government’s strategy to combat Maoism for close to two decades, with contestable degrees of efficacy.
While officials will point to a gradual waning of Maoist influence from several parts of Bastar and them being boxed in to the remote districts of Sukma, Bijapur, Dantewada and Narayanpur, several have argued that the forces are still vulnerable to attack; it is the CRPF that has been victim to these attacks; and point to neighbouring states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and even Odisha that have been able to assert some control with much less manpower.
A camp in such remote areas has at least 400-500 personnel, helmed either by a commandant or a deputy commandant.
“A camp is important because it establishes presence in hostile areas and, more importantly, helps establish normalcy in civilian activities. For instance, the Maoists had shut markets in important centres like Jagargunda for fear of losing control. To reopen the market, to give protection to it, to instil confidence in traders that they can buy and sell freely, we need camps where our personnel are close by. The most important aspect is roads. To build a road in a forward area is the most difficult task. You have to ring-fence the road you want to build from both ends. Only then can you dominate an area, or protect workers building the road. In the absence of this, the Maoists will never allow a road to be opened in areas they have influence in,” said a senior Chhattisgarh-based police officer.
This is why, beyond the numbers, the places where the CRPF has been able to set up new camps are significant. One such place is Dubbamarka under the Kistaram police station limits in Sukma. Until even two years ago, the safest way to reach Kistaram, on the state’s southernmost tip, was actually to travel through Bhadrachalam in Telangana. Nine CRPF men lost their lives there in a mine blast in March 2018. A post was set up there on February 12 this year.
In June 2017, the Chhattisgarh Police and CRPF launched a 56-hour, 1,500 personnel siege from multiple camps, targeting spots where the Maoists have the most control, and the Maoist Battalion number one, led by Hidma (a top Maoist commander), is in operation. One of their primary targets was to reach and engage with Maoists in Tondamarka under the Chintagufa police station limits. Six years later, on February 7, a camp was set up there for the first time.
Similarly, a camp established in Bijapur’s Bedre on January 30 this year is important because it lies in a troublesome remote area that straddles Maharashtra, with the forests on the border thus far allowing Maoists a free run. Chinnagellur in Bijapur, which got a camp on February 5, is similarly remote, with access to a road at least 15km away till a few years ago.
Kuldiep Singh, former director general of the CRPF, who was also posted in Chhattisgarh before he took charge as the agency’s chief in March 2021, said, “The places where the camps have now been set up is significant. These places were always on our list to enter and establish camps. CRPF’s strategy is to set up camps and not give a free-run to extremist groups. In the last four years, CRPF has been doing really well and entering new areas. Maoists have to leave these areas or surrender. They can’t get comfortable because COBRA can travel nearly 80km within a day, hit their target in core areas and return.”
Singh said that another advantage of setting camps in such remotest parks, is that the government’s development work can be implemented in the area. He added, “Confidence-building measures can take place. Local residents will no longer fear extremist forces. Government services can also be delivered with the help of these camps.”
Officials said that apart from this, CRPF has also helped open seven key roads in parts of the state decimated by Maoists. A key stretch opened last year was the 85km-stretch spanning Dantewada- Aranpur- Jagargunda, completed in March 2022.
Another important stretch opened was the one between Bijapur — Basaguda and Bedre.
To be sure, roads are often a central element of conflict in Bastar, and take years to build once the process begins, and even if they are completed, are often targeted by Maoists.
“On one side, there is a massive crackdown on extremist groups, while on the other, we are working with local residents by conducting civic action programmes and medical check-up camps. After setting up camps, we also provide everyday essentials, like groceries, to people who live in the interiors. The number of explosions or blasts is also decreasing. There were 29 cases last year, compared to 32 in 2021. Around 300-500 people are still surrendering each year. We will continue to set up camps and make more inroads in the state,” said a CRPF official, who asked not to be named.
The Union home ministry last year said that attacks by Maoist groups had reduced significantly over the years. From a peak of 2,259 cases in 2009 across the country, cases last year stood at 509.
Similarly, the number of people killed by Maoists in 2010 was 1,005, which dropped to 147 last year.
In the backdrop of these moves, CRPF is also set to hold its annual raising day function on March 19 in Bastar’s Jagdalpur, with both Union home minister Amit Shah and home secretary Ajay Bhalla likely to attend.
This is the first time the parade is being held in Bastar and the chief of CRPF’s Cobra unit has already reached the area to oversee preparations.
The parade however is being held in Karanpur, on the outskirts of Jagdalpur, the headquarters of Bastar range and the seventh biggest city in Chhattisgarh in terms of population, according to the 2011 Census.
