Things haven’t mulled over in Chattisgarh. The home ministry in the light of the events has decided to acquire instruments to help the CRPF. Ultra-wide-band microwave ground penetration radars. These will be used on an emergency basis.
The decision was taken after 9 COBRA troopers who were travelling on a mine-protected vehicle (MPV) were killed when Maoists set off an Improvised Explosive Device in the Sukma district on March 13th. The CRPF in question has set up two new campsites in south Bastar which has upset the Maoists. The intensity of the blast was high enough to blow the MPV into pieces. The two camps have been set up in Palondi and Potokpalli. This is supposed to be situated in the centre of the Maoist territory.
The notion is that the IED was pre-laid. The radars that have been sanctioned cost 25 lakhs each. The radars will have the ability to detect mines buried at least three feet. The evidence suggests that the explosive was put inside a steel container and then buried. The explosion created a 12 feet by 5 feet in the earth. Radars that are being sanctioned are also being used by the US forces in Afghanistan. There is also a guess that the IEDs are controlled by a remote device.
The security forces hadn’t been to these areas before. Some feel that instead of making this the job of the CRPF, it needs to be the responsibility of the state police. The road in the area is still under construction, only 5 kilometres of road is being constructed per day over three months. Rajnath Singh also called the incident, “deeply distressing.” The Naxal threat is still very much at large, and in so many years the government has been pumping money and men into these areas to negotiate peace but all it has produced thus far is a deadly business of violence.