NAGPUR: Indravati national park in Chhattisgarh‘s Bijapur, which also houses a tiger reserve, was a safe hideout for Maoists till Sunday, when 31 guerrillas were shot in one of the bloodiest encounters with security forces till date. Peoples’ Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA), which is tottering in its headquarters at Abujmarh, was compelled to concede a vital stretch of land in the sprawling park.
Buoyed by a 2,000sqkm security vacuum in restricted areas of Indravati national park, Maoists had consolidated their hold in the forested region, which was used as a PLGA base and rehabilitation centre for decades. Maoists’ formations of three states, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Telangana, used the sprawling forests as their second alternative to Abujmarh, and senior cadres, including members of the outfit’s central committee and politburo, were known to be holed up in the park.
Now, after Abujmarh, this ‘Red citadel’, too, has fallen, where cadre-training infrastructure, gun-making factories, arsenal stock and other wings, including medical, technical, propaganda and press, are now a shambles.
Union minister Amit Shah, who lauded efforts of Chhattisgarh police, has set a deadline of March 26 to wipe out Maoist extremism in state. After the Sunday gunfight, Maharashtra has stepped up drone surveillance along its borders, adjacent to the national park. Gadchiroli police have put up three border posts, Damrancha, Dechlipetha and Manne Rajaram, on high alert to ensure PLGA guerrillas don’t sneak into Maharashtra to escape advancing security forces from Chhattisgarh.
After the fall of Abujmarh, Maoists depended on their hideouts in the Indravati park area for resting and regrouping. Sources stated Gadchiroli-based formations, such as Aheri local organisational squad, would cross the Indravati river to enter national park zone to dodge C-60 commandos during area domination drives and searches.
As per official sources, Gadchiroli police kept a close watch on Sunday’s encounter as several local formations were likely to be present and chances were high that some Maharashtra-based cadres were hit. There was also speculation about Telangana state committee secretary being present along with key politburo members during the gun battle.
