people's war - CM Admits to Rise in Naxal Activities - Govt to provide 3,500 satellite phones

BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday admitted in the Assembly that Maoist activities in the State increased from five districts in 2000 to 19 districts now. In a written reply to a question from Prafulla Majhi (Cong), the Chief Minister said parts of Malkangiri, Rayagada, Koraput, Gajapati and Mayurbhanj districts were considered Maoist affected in 2000. In the current scenario, parts of 19 districts, Koraput, Malkangiri, Rayagada, Ganjam (including Berhampur police district), Keonjhar, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Jajpur, Kandhamal, Dhenkanal, Nayagarh, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Balangir and Bargarh are considered to be affected by Maoist activities in varying intensities, he said.
The Chief Minister, however, said no violence has been reported from Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Mayurbhanj, Sundargarh, Deogarh and Nayagarh districts since 2011. Maintaining that the State Government has been continuously focusing on capacity upgradation of security forces and security infrastructure in the affected areas, the Chief Minister said strategic deployment of security forces, effective anti-Maoist operations with greater synergy with the other Naxal-affected States and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) have been done to deal with the situation. In order to deal with Maoist menace, the Centre had provided 17 battalions of CAPFs to the State in phases from 2001 to 2013, he said.

Govt to provide 3,500 satellite phones to forces undertaking anti-Naxal operations

The satellite phones or Digital Satellite Phone Terminals (DSPTs) are being provided by the state-run BSNL after the Union Home Ministry made a request in this regard to the Telecom Ministry sometime back. “The DSPTs or satellite phones will be given to troops deployed in areas where there is no mobile connectivity as there are no cell phone towers. Till the time these areas are brought under cell phone connectivity network, these phones will be with the security forces,” a senior paramilitary officer said.
A maximum of 2,000 of these satellite phones have been provided to the forces deployed in the dense forests and border areas of North East states while close to 1,500 of these phones have been sanctioned for some of the worst Naxal-hit areas.