New Delhi, Oct 30: Government has decided to deploy nearly 10,000 CRPF personnel for anti-naxal operations in Maoist-affected states of the country.
 The Central Reserve Police Force, which is the mainstay for anti-Maoist operations, has already deployed 75,000 personnel for the purpose apart from few battalions of other central forces like BSF and ITBP.
 Top sources in the paramilitary force said the Union Home Ministry has asked the CRPF to deploy six additional battalions in naxal-violence hit areas after withdrawing them from Jammu and Kashmir while about four other units can be picked from the regular training contingents.
 The force has initiated the process and the final inductions will take place in a phased manner, they said.
 Currently, 65 battalions of CRPF are deployed in Jammu and Kashmir. CRPF chief Pranay Sahay, who took over the charge of the country's largest paramilitary a fortnight back, said the force will work to bring more areas into the mainstream which are considered liberated zones and have no presence of government machinery.
 "The challenge for us is to work in the areas which are Naxal strongholds. We have identified a number of them and we are working to establish the governments presence in these areas," Sahay said while interacting with journalists during the annual press conference here.
 The about 3-lakh personnel strong force will celebrate its 73rd Raising Day on November 1. CRPF DG Sahay identified Basuguda, Abujhmaad and Tulsi Dongri (Chhattisgarh), Buda Pahad and Saranda (Jharkhand), Chakarbanda (West Bengal) and parts of Gadchiroli in Maharashtra and few locations in Odisha as areas which are out of the reach of security forces and the administration.
 In order to streamline the increasing workload of the force in anti-naxal operations, six new posts of Inspector General (IG) have also been created in the paramilitary.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 30 Oct 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 30 Oct 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 31 Oct 2012 00:00:00 IST