Four new specialised CRPF posts for anti-Naxal operations

The Union Home Ministry has created four new specialised posts within the CRPF for anti-Naxal operations in the aftermath of the gruesome Dantewada attack.

The Union Home Ministry has created four new specialised posts within the CRPF for anti-Naxal operations in the aftermath of the gruesome Dantewada attack.

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Under the new system, Pankaj Kumar Singh, an IPS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, has been appointed as Inspector General (Operations) in West Bengal.

Singh will exclusively deal with the anti-Naxal operations in the state and will not be given any administrative duty.

Similarly, CRPF Eastern Sector IG Nageshwar Rao has been moved to Orissa to take over the operations there in a similar capacity.

Sources said two more officers will also be earmarked soon for Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

The need to have a specialised person heading anti-Maoist operations was felt following the Dantewada Naxal attack of April six which claimed the lives of 76 security personnel.

As per the E N Rammohan committee that went into the circumstances of the massacre, there was lack of coordination and violation of Standard Operating Procedures.

The new system is a drastic shift from the earlier where there was only one IG level officer in the headquarters to look after operations of the entire force.