Shield for highways to fight Naxalites

Jamshedpur, May 9: Highways would be given special focus in curbing the Naxalite menace. This was decided at a high-level meeting of police officers in Jamshedpur today.

The meeting was presided over by inspector-general of police (Ranchi zone) Ashok Kumar Sinha, deputy inspector-general of police (Kolhan) M.K. Mishra, deputy inspector-general of police (Ranchi) Naresh Kumar Singh, superintendents of police of Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Seraikela-Kharsawan, Kh- unti and West Singhbhum and deputy superintendents of police.

While speaking to newsmen, Sinha said the Naxalite activities were on the rise on national highways and state highways nowadays.

He said the police are always on the target list of rebels and more often than not, the police cannot do anything in their defence.

“As the Naxalites disguise themselves as simple villagers before the attack, it becomes very difficult to differentiate between a Naxalite and a villager from their looks. Therefore, the police have become a soft target of Naxalites, as a police official has to remain in uniform,” said the zonal IG.

Sinha said that a special strategy has to be followed for the highways against the Naxalites activities. He added that they had discussed some strategies at the meeting today and claimed that the strategy would be implemented only after getting nod from the director-general of police.

The senior cop, however, declined to reveal the stra- tegy. But sources said the police authorities would augment the communication system and introduce some system that would help differenti- ate between a Naxalite and the villager.

The police officials also stressed on making the community policing more effective in the villages located along the highways so that the villagers may provide logistic support at times of emergency.

Speaking about holding such meeting at Jamshedpur, the zonal IG said they have decided to hold the meeting here, as Naxalite activities are on the rise in Kolhan region