CRPF seeks ISRO help to track Naxals

AP Maheshwari, IG (Operations) CRPF, and R G Nadadur, joint secretary in the Department of Space, signed an MoU on cooperation in counter-insurgency operations on Friday. CRPF Director General S I S Ahmed and Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman ISRO Dr G Madhwan were present on the occasion.

On the basis of ISRO’s satellite imageries, the CRPF personnel would be able to penetrate interior areas that have not been surveyed yet by any Government agency, a senior officer said. The communication network, which is already in place, would be used to provide this information to personnel engaged in operations against extremists.

The force has been particularly hamstrung in the dense forests in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa — part of the so-called “liberated zone” where large areas are yet to be surveyed by the Government. This means the counter-insurgency force has been operating virtually blindly in these areas, often falling prey to ambushes by the Naxalites who know the terrain well. Chhatisgarh and Jharkhand account for the bulk of casualties in Naxal violence over the past two years.

The CRPF is learnt to have been talking to the ISRO for several months now. The space agency was also approached by the paramilitary force after the Naxal attack in Nayagarh in Orissa last month.