Military gears up to help in anti-Maoist operations

The army is getting ready to play its part in anti-Maoist operations. As a first step, directorate general military operations (DGMO) has started numbering maps obtained from Survey of India (SoI) with focus on Maoist-affected states.

DGMO has obtained catalogues of the geographical information system (GIS) maps that detail terrains and begun corroborating information with satellite imagery. It is taking printouts and giving each map a unique number. Thousands of such maps have been already numbered.

A source said the entire country but Jammu and Kashmir was mapped by SoI, while the Valley and external territories are mapped by Military Survey.

“Considering the fact that the army can be called to maintain internal security anytime anywhere, this huge exercise has been undertaken. There are small places, villages, etc, which are of interest to the army. Since these maps can be obtained only from SoI by quoting unique numbers, it is collating them.”

The marathon, top-secret exercise has been under way for some time, but gained momentum after last week’s cabinet meeting stand-off between the ministries of home and defence over direct involvement of the armed forces in anti-Maoist operations.

The states to be covered first are Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.