Hard times for Chhattisgarh,badly equipped cops,admits Chidambaram

Amid sudden spurt in Maoist violence in Chhattisgarh,Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said the state was going through a difficult time...

Amid sudden spurt in Maoist violence in Chhattisgarh,Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said the state was going through a difficult time,reiterating that the Centre was willing to render all possible assistance so that the state could be able to overcome the challenges to the security of its people.

Chhattisgarh is going through a difficult time. In the past eight weeks,there have been 28 incidents of violence in the state. Many lives have been lost,many more have been injured. I offer my sincere condolences to the families of the bereaved and pray for the recovery of the injured, he said at the 40th All India Police Science Congress.

Referring to the challenges being posed by Left Wing Extremism,he said,The distribution of police force among the police stations is badly skewed,there are not enough police stations. Even where there is a police station,the strength of the police force in a station is often not more than 20 persons. In some of the districts affected by Left Wing extremism,the police station exists only in name.

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There are police stations where the Station House has been blown up; there are police stations where there are no more then eight men; and even these eight men or less men do not hold any weapons for fear of the weapons being looted, Chidambaram said. You will recall the case of Lalgarh police station in West Midnapore in West Bengal. The police station was closed and locked from inside for several months until the CRPF liberated it, he added.

Chief Minister Raman Singh said Chhattisgarh has to fight the Naxal menace with full force and capacity. We are fighting Naxals on our soil. If it helps save countrys democracy,we are ready to fight this war on our soil, he said.