Post News Network
Sambalpur/Burla, August 5: A group centre of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the state would be set up at Basantapur mouza near Chipilima under Dhanakauda block of Sambalpur district. This would be the second centre after the existing one at Bhubaneswar, director general Prakash Mishra Wednesday said.
The CRPF DG was addressing a press conference at a MCL guest house in Burla after visiting the proposed site. The state government has provided 237.32 acre of land for the purpose.
A DIG and other officers have already been appointed to handle five battalions of CRPF in this group centre, Mishra said, adding, another centre would also be set up at Raipur in neighbouring Chhattisgarh. While the land acquisition process has been completed, the foundation would be laid soon in Sambalpur, the DG said. The proposed centre will be the headquarters of the five battalions where problems of the jawans would be solved. The group centre would function temporarily at Sambalpur and Bhubaneswar till the construction of the permanent building is completed, he informed.
During the visit to the district, Mishra held discussions with the officials of CRPF posted on both sides of Gandhamardan hill at Paikamal in Bargarh district about the Mao menace in Nuapada, Bolangir and Bargarh districts.
While briefing the media, the DG said, joint anti-Maoists operations are being conducted in coordination with the state police to keep the menace at bay. More CRPF personnel are required to intensify the operation in Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar distircts, he added. The Reds are preparing to shift their base to SDS (Sundargarh, Deogarh and Subarnapur ) districts after finding it tough to carry out their activities in Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar. The joint combing operations would be intensified with deployment of more forces in these districts in the wake of rising cases of infiltration, he said.
Mishra informed that various sensitisation programmes and health camps are being conducted in the Maoist-hit rural regions of the vulnerable districts.
CRPF IG Piyush Anand, police DIG- northern range Pratik Kumar Mohanty and other CRPF and police officials were present at the press conference.
