Silda effect: Age bar kicks in EFR

Rattled by the February 15 Naxal attack on the Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) camp at Silda in which the Maoists killed 24 jawans without even facing much of a fight...

Rattled by the February 15 Naxal attack on the Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) camp at Silda in which the Maoists killed 24 jawans without even facing much of a fight,the state government has decided to remove all personnel above 45 years of age from the state paramilitary force and send them out of the Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas.

The decision was taken today as part of corrective measures to prevent such attacks in future.

The average age of the jawans will now be less than 30 and they will be sent for intensive training. Some of the camps will also be relocated and rearranged, DGP Bhupinder Singh said,adding that the strength of one camp in the LWE areas will now be 90-100,same as in a paramiltary company,and for this the government will re-align the forces.

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In a related development,the state government will review the security at jails where top Naxals are lodged. Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen will visit the three jails of Midnapore,Bankura and Purulia,together housing more than a hundred Naxalites and discuss steps to tighten security there.

The IG (prisons) has warned us that there is a real threat of a jail-break by Maoists and paramilitary forces should be deployed to guard the jails. I am going there to see the level of security prepardness. Of course we can provide paramilitary forces if we get reinforcements from the Centre, Sen said.

In Midnapore Central Jail alone,more than 100 Maoists have been lodged. There is a genuine threat to the jails and we are concerned. We have asked for paramilitary forces and we are arranging for proper training of the jail guards too. We are in fact roping in BSF to train our men, B D Sharma,ADG (prisons),said.

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