Happy hunting ground turns Maoists’ Waterloo

Once considered a happy “hunting ground” for Maoists for its strategic and geographical location, Malkangiri district, situated in the tri-junction of three states — Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh — is now turning out to be terrain of tragedy.

The Red radicals of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha who always found it a safe haven for their operations, have been suffering reverses in recent years because of well-coordinated joint raids by the three states.

In 2012, 10 rebels were killed while in 2013 the figure increased to 23. In 2014, six ultras were killed in an encounter while the figure rose to nine the next year.

Until Monday morning when 27 rebels were killed in a joint police operation by Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, only four rebels had been killed in the district.

According to Odisha director general of police (DGP) K.B. Singh, the robust security arrangement has resulted in total marginalization of the Maoists operating in southern and western parts of Odisha.

While Padia Dalam of the Maoists, one of the strongest units of the rebels, is claimed to have been completely wiped out, the Odisha Maobadi headed by Sabyasachi Panda has lost its entity after Panda’s arrest in 2014. The outreach programmes and socio-economic welfare measures implemented by the state government have helped it win support of the Maoist sympathisers.

Hundreds of tribals who supported the extremists all these years, surrendered before the Malkangiri police this year. According to sources in the police, as many as 3,000 Maoist sympathisers have surrendered since February this year.