Malkangiri: Former women ultras who worked for long years in various Maoist outfits have been given a new charge to participate in counter-insurgency operations against the Red rebels in neighbouring Chhattisgarh bordering this district, a report said Sunday. The former female cadres after getting disillusioned with the Maoist ideology and outfits have surrendered before police from time to time expressing their wish to join the mainstream.
Realising their potential, Chhattisgarh Police decided to use their services and inducted them in the District Reserve Guard (DRG), a front-line anti-Maoist force and a specially-raised squad for anti-Maoist operations by Chhattisgarh Police. The women ultras trained with proper and extensive forest combat have become powerful commandos and are taking the lead role in anti Maoist operations now. The women commandos of the DRG in Chhattisgarh can be seen holding AK47 rifles ready to carry out offensives matching shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts. These women commandos have been given three months of advanced in-house training in jungle warfare tactics. They are trained for motorcycle patrolling in the dense forests, map reading, understanding Maoist profiles and counter ambush strategy, the report said.
With their prior experience, all of them are well acquainted with the densely forested terrain and the local language which are key factors in the fight against Maoists. Among them, there is a fearsome woman commando nicknamed Sumitra by parents in her childhood. Sumitra, a resident of Bijapur district on the fringes of Malkangiri district was involved with a Maoist outfit for long years. She took part in major offensives in Sukma, Dantewada, and Bijapur districts. She was an active member of Dandakaranya Maoist outfit for 10 long years and had worked as a close associate of top Maoist leader Hidma.
She, however, decided to join the mainstream after receiving a handwritten letter from her brother, who is a CRPF jawan. She surrendered before the Bijapur police in 2020 and later, was inducted as a woman commando in DRG. She has been assigned major tasks in the counter-insurgency operations. Sumitra is not the lone woman to be inducted into DRG. Rajkumari and Mamata are two other women commandos who surrendered before Chhattisgarh police and were inducted as women commandos in the DRG. The DRG group has over 75 women commandos which include the former women Maoists. Confirming the development, Bijapur SP Anjane Barnoi said there are also 125 women commandos who have been engaged in various camps of security forces in Maoist-hit areas of Chhattisgarh.
