By Anurjay Dhal
BHUBANESWAR: Odisha DGP Abhay and IGP (Operations) Amitabh Thakur were on Friday led the celebrations of IPS officers, stationed here and had fought deadly Gun fires on several occasions in dense forest of the State during anti-Maoists’ operations, after the State Home Department here as well as Police Headquarters’ in Cuttack, removed as many as 5 Districts from the lift of Left-Wing Extremism hit Security Related Expenditure (LWE-SRE).
In April 2018, 6 districts including Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Gajapati and Ganjam were declared as free from Maoist activities. With 5 now, a total 11 districts have so far been assessed to be free of Maoist activities in a span of two years, largely due to the impact of security response and good governance by the State Government.
Odisha DGP in a tweet said “ Odisha Government has approved removal of 5 Districts like Angul, Boudh, Sambalpur, Deogarh and Nayagarh from LWE affected SRE districts,” .“This recognises improved security situation in these districts. Odisha Police is committed to take whole of Odisha LWE free@CMO_Odisha,” Odisha DGP tweeted.
Responding to DGP Abhay , IGP(Operations), Amitabh Thakur, who has been playing a key role in anti-Maoists operations in the State, tweeted “ It is very satisfying moment for @odisha_police and leadership,@DGPOdisha. From 21 districts, not very long ago, to 10 is commendable . Credit goes to all those who have contributed in this (SIW), SOG, Operations and others)#Police#Odisha@IPS_Association@homeodisha,”, added Thakur, an IPS officer of 1998 batch.
The security situations under North-Central range headquarters at Talcher, Northern Range at Sambalpur, Southern at Berhampur and Central at Cuttack however improving but situation continued to remain tense under South-Western headquarters at Sunabeda , which houses most of the highly leftwing insurgency hit districts of Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada and Kandhamal.
After the arrest of Maoists’ leader Sabyasachi Panda, Maoists activities on Nayagarh zone have been totally vanished. It may be noted here that present IGP (Operations) Amitabh Thakur was then Berhampur DIG and with DS Kuttey , who at that time with Intelligence Wing, had ensured the arrest of Rebels’ leader Panda.
Left-wing extremism division was created effectively address the Left Wing Extremist insurgency in a holistic manner. The LWE Division implements security related schemes aimed at capacity building in the LWE affected States. The Division also monitors the LWE situation and counter-measures being taken by the affected States. The LWE Division coordinates the implementation of various development schemes of the Ministries,Departments of Govt. of India in LWE affected States.
