Chopper saving lives in Naxal-hit regions: Top cop

In the past month, rescuing soldiers, providing relief and conducting special operations in Naxal-infested areas have been tasks not so difficult for the state police.

Chopper saving lives in Naxal-hit regions: Top cop

In the past month, rescuing soldiers, providing relief and conducting special operations in Naxal-infested areas have been tasks not so difficult for the state police. All this thanks to Chopper Dhruv which the Director General of Police Ajit Parasnis said was instrumental in saving precious lives of jawans deployed on Naxal duty in the interiors of the state.

Need of hour: DGP Ajit Parasnis talks about the importance of using
helicopters in Naxal areas

The chopper was brought into service by the state police on March 28, said Parasnis. Parasnis said Naxalism had many facets and the police alone would not be able to provide solution to the problem.

Jayant Umranikar, who worked as Additional Director General of Anti-Naxal Operations in 2002, said the chopper was long-awaited. "The life of critically injured jawans could have been saved if the chopper was pressed into action earlier. At times we were denied chopper service to airlift critically injured jawans and ironically, the politicians used to come in choppers to pay homage to the martyrs. It used to affect the morale of the policemen," Umranikar said.

He welcomed the state's decision to give chopper to the policemen deployed in Gadchiroli, but said: "The chopper should be dedicatedly given to the Maharashtra police and not on rent. There are chances that the chopper on rent will not be always available whenever police require it."

Chopper will be useful in conducting reconnoiter, overviewing the roadblocks and in providing quick relief to the injured, he said. Two weeks ago during a Naxal ambush near Kandoli in Tadgaon in Bhamragarh one of the injured jawans, Shankar Pungati, had to be shifted to Nagpur for treatment.

"This could be done pronto owing to the availability of chopper," Umranikar said. In another incident near Khobramendha jungles in Kurkheda area, in which a jawan Mahendra Singh was killed, the injured Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans were airlifted by a chopper from the encounter site and brought to district headquarters in Gadchiroli. From there they were shifted to Nagpur for treatment, Umranikar said. He said the there were chances of getting more choppers from the Centre soon.

Police strength in Gadchiroli
*u00a0DIG for Anti-Naxal operations is stationed in Gadchiroli
* 5 CRPF battalions including a cobra battalion is deployed
* 10 SRPF battalions are deployed in Gadchiroli
Training centre
State-of-the-art Institute to train policemen in jungle warfare and Naxal tactics is coming up in Surabaadi in Nagpur. Parasnis, who visited the campus two weeks ago, said the institute would be functionalu00a0 soon.
Past violence
Box 3- In 2009, three police parties were attacked in an ambush in Gadchiroli District killing 52 including officers and constables.