Rourkela: Odisha Police have chalked out a ‘blueprint’ to enhance security measures in Rourkela police district to deal with Maoists, a senior officer said Tuesday.
The measure comes after suspected Maoists carried out three improvised explosive device (IED) blasts on railway tracks along the Odisha-Jharkhand border Saturday and Sunday, police said.
The two blasts, which caused damage to the tracks, occurred at separate locations, one in Odisha and another in Jharkhand, they said.
In one of the blasts that took place on the tracks in the K Nuagaon police station area in Sundargarh district, a railway personnel was killed and another was injured. The Sundargarh revenue district has two police districts — Sundargarh and Rourkela.
ADG (anti-naxal operations) Sanjeev Panda, who visited the incident sites and held discussions with the local police officers, said there had earlier been no Maoist-related incident in Rourkela police district in the last seven years.
The last Maoist incident in the police district was reported in 2018, he said.
“However, Maoist activities resurfaced recently in the district. So, we have decided to revise our response. We have chalked out a blueprint to deal with the Maoists,” Panda told reporters in Rourkela Tuesday.
The blueprint was prepared in accordance with the target set by the Union Home Minister for eradicating Maoism by March 2026, Panda said.
“We will strengthen our security infrastructure in the district. We will set up new security camps, deploy additional Special Operations Group (SOG) teams, and strengthen our intelligence network. We strongly believe that we will succeed in our motto,” the Odisha Police ADG said.
He said that the Maoists have a presence in Saranda forest in Jharkhand, from where they come to Odisha sometimes.
To deal with them, Odisha Police, in coordination with their counterparts in Jharkhand, will conduct joint anti-Maoist operations in the area, Panda said.
Commenting on security arrangements at railway tracks, he said, “Our bomb disposal squad has cleared the tracks on the Odisha side.”
PTI