P Chidambaram visits Naxal-affected Gadchiroli, bureaucrat raises questions

As Union home minister P Chidambaram reviewed security operations in Maoist stronghold of Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra, a state bureaucrat courted controversy alleging that such "high profile" visits would not yield any "results" or solve the Naxal problem.

Gadchiroli's additional district collector Rajendra Kanpadhe also flayed the Centre's anti-Naxal strategies and said the state police should decide whether or not paramilitary forces are required to deal with the Maoist menace.

"Such high-profile visits will not yield any results or solve the Naxal problem. If you hold a meeting in an air-conditioned room and visit the Naxal-affected areas in choppers, how do you know the ground realities," he told reporters in Gadchiroli, about 200km from Nagpur.

Kanpadhe, who is the deputy collector, is also holding charge of additional collector. He is from the Maharashtra Administrataive Service.

Chidambaram, who is the first Union home minister to visit Gadchiroli, where central paramilitary forces have been deployed to counter the Naxal threat, flew in to review the anti-Naxal operations in the district and to assess the preparedness of security forces deployed there.

Kanpadhe, 57, who is known in official circles for his stinging criticism of anti-Naxal strategies and anti-government stance, said, "Paramilitary forces should immediately be removed and if necessary they should be called only after local police requires their help.

The state police should be strengthened, given more facilities and more authority. Bringing paramilitary forces will not help them. The local police should decide whether paramilitary forces are required or not."

Kanpadhe shot into limelight when he volunteered to go into the Naxal infested Binagonda in Bhamragarh taluka in the district without security and came back unscathed a few months back. There was a security scare when he remained untraceable for a day. He was denied security on grounds of shortage of police personnel.

Chidambaram held a closed-door meeting with high ranking officials in Gadchiroli to assess the preparedness of the security forces in tackling the Naxal menace.

He arrived in the Maoist-infested district at around 1,000 hours and held a meeting with Maharashtra home minister RR Patil, minister of state for home, Pratik Patil and state director general of police D Sivanandan along with other senior officers from revenue and police department.

Meanwhile, a section of the people's representatives were sore when they were not allowed to attend the official meeting.

Chidambaram, however, spoke to them individually and later accepted their memorandum. The minister did not speak to the media and there was no official briefing after the meeting.

Chidambaram then flew to Murumgaon, a remote village in Dhanora taluka in Gadchiroli.