Government to send 2,000 paramilitary men of Nagaland unit to fight Maoists in Bastar

NEW DELHI: The home ministry has decided to send over 2,000 paramilitary men belonging Nagaland's Indian Reserve Battalions to fight Maoists in Bastar, the worst Maoist-hit zone.
A senior home ministry official said his ministry has written to the Nagaland government to spare two of its Indian Reserve Battalions (IRB) for being deployed in Bastar. This comes after home minister Rajnath Singh was convinced by Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh that that Naga battallion, which comes with a reputation of being a tough and no-nonsense force for jungle warfare, would be able to deliver the goods in Bastar which is the epicentre of the Naxalite movement.
This will be the first time that the IRB would be deployed in Bastar. Till now, only one Naga battalion was deployed in West Bengal to take on Maoists when Naxalite leader Kishenji called the shots there. "Besides the two Naga battalions, we are also sending 10 more CRPF battalions to Chhattisgarh, mainly for Bastar. The CM wants as many Naga battalions as possible," a top home ministry official said.
With the additional deployments, Bastar is set to be the most-militarized zone in the entire country. With an area of 40,000 square kilometres, Bastar already has a deployment of 36 central battalions and 12 state police battalions. Raman Singh recently demanded 26 more central paramilitary battalions, preferably Naga battalions, to be posted in Chhattisgarh.

The request has been acceded to by the home ministry, with 12 battalions being promised by the end of 2014 and the rest in the next two years. In all, that would translate into one lakh securitymen deployed in the state by 2016, which Raman Singh lately termed as "achieving a critical mass in force deployment" in a presentation to home minister Rajnath Singh. "The war against Maoism would be won or lost in Bastar. There is no substitute for more boots on the ground to fill up the critical security vacuum in Bastar," the CM's presentation to MHA said.