Unified anti-Naxal Commands to be in place soon

The full strength Unified Commands for streamlining anti-Naxal operations in four Maoist-affected states of the country will be made operational very soon as state governments have started putting the mechanism in place. See special

The full strength Unified Commands for streamlining anti-Naxal operations in four Maoist-affected states of the country will be made operational very soon as state governments have started putting the mechanism in place.

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The Commands, to be based in capitals of the four states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orrisa and West Bengal, will be headed by their respective Chief Secretaries.

The other members will be the state Director General of Police, the Development Commissioner of the state, Inspectors General (anti-Naxal operations) of the state police and the CRPF, an official of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and an official of the state intelligence along with a retired Major General rank officer of the Army.

"The Unified Commands will be in place and start functioning very soon. May be a week or ten days, " sources said.

The decision to create a Unified Command structure in these states -- on the lines of Jammu and Kashmir and Assam --was taken at a meeting of Chief Ministers of Naxal-affected states chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with Home Minister P Chidambaram on July 14 in the national capital.

According to top government sources, the Unified Commands in all the four states will have powers and responsibilities for anti-Naxal operations by security forces like CRPF, BSF and ITBP and the state police and will also chalk out the action plan for development initiatives once these forces dominate an area.

The Unified Command will also be vested with the powers to use and direct the helicopters allocated to each state for rescue operations and troop reinforcements, sources said.

Meanwhile, the central government in co-ordination with these four state governments is also planning new helicopter bases and helipads so that the air operations could be enhanced in these areas.

The BSF air wing, which is operating the helicopters in these zones, will be supplemented with more ALH Dhruv helicopters and those from the Indian Air Force (IAF).