Maoists form panel to fight long battle against forces

In order to improve coordination between different units in Red Corridor states, the CPI(Maoist) has reportedly set up an eight-member special coordination committee.

The committee would comprise two special action squad members each from four parts of the corridor.

According to a joint report by the Intelligence Bureau and Bengal intelligence, Lalgarh in Bengal’s West Midnapore district would house the headquarters of this Maoist committee.

The Maoists’ main purpose of forming the committee was to start proper distribution of arms and ammunition so that the cadres can continue with their long battle against the security forces, intelligence sources said.

As per the joint report submitted to both the Union home ministry as well the Bengal home department, the four units or corridors (as they are called in Maoist parlance) are: Malkangiri-Koraput in Orissa, Dantewada-Bijapur in Chhattishgarh, Gurbandha at Jharkhand-Orissa border and the Junglemahal in West Midnapore district.

According to the report, the eight representatives in the new committee are Papa Rao and Gopal from Dantewada-Bijapur, Arjun and Bihari from Gurbandha, Sukhdev and Uday from Malkangiri-Koraput and Kanchan and Shahebda from Junglemahal. While Shahebda is a CPI(Maoist) politburo member, Kanchan is a state secretary in Bengal.

The report added that all eight Maoists are currently hiding in the Belpahari region of West Midnapore. Highly placed state intelligence sources told DNA that barring Shahebda and Kanchan, who belong to Bengal, the remaining six members of the committee entered the state through Sulaipada in Orissa early this week.

“They brought along with them 50 Maoists who have specialised in guerrilla warfare. Twenty of them are women,” an intelligence official said. As per the intelligence report, the Maoists have recently accumulated huge amounts of deadly explosives like Neogel 90 and ammonium nitrate at their Junglemahal and Gurbandha units. “We apprehend that they are planning a repeat of the Sukma or Shilda attack,” the official said.