Odisha, Andhra Pradesh police launch joint operation to combat Maoists

Bhubaneswar, October 6: In a quest to fight against the Left Wing Extremists, the states of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh police in a combined effort decided to conduct joint operations and share information to effectively combat the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) in the border areas.

 

This was decided in a meeting attended by Odisha DGP R P Sharma, his Andhra Pradesh counterpart R P Thakur and other senior police officers of both the states engaged in anti-maoist operations, they said. The two sides discussed on enhancing the interstate coordination and cooperation, particularly conducting joint operations in the core areas like the Cut-Off area in Malkangiri district to effectively combat and contain the LWE menace.

DGP Sharma said the inter-state coordination meeting between the two states was fruitful.

The Andhra Pradesh DGP said that they discussed about infrastructural requirement in that (border) areas whether road connectivity or cell phone connectivity. We have fixed the priority which are the things to be taken up immediately within our governments or with the national government.

The meeting assumes significance in the backdrop of Maoists last month killing two TDP leaders including a sitting MLA, at a place in Andhra Pradesh, barely 15 km from Odisha border.

Wide range of issues including anti-LWE operations in the interstate border, intelligence collection and sharing of tactical deployment of security forces along the interstate border and such other issues were also discussed in the meeting. Both sides discussed the emerging LWE scenario in the interstate border following the recent developments in the bordering areas.