Chhattisgarh: Elections, anti-Naxal ops will continue despite attack

Special Inspector General of Police (Anti-Naxal Operation) DM Awasthi assured that the upcoming elections in the state will take place as scheduled and all preparations to conduct it are underway.

Addressing the media post the Naxal attack which took place earlier on Tuesday, Awasthi said "Anti-Naxal operations are underway even as I address the conference and I would like to assure that they will continue. We are committed to organise elections and they will be held as per schedule."

Awasthi also gave details of the unfortunate incident that took place in Dantewada in which a Doordarshan cameraperson and two police personnel lost their lives.

"The Doordarshan team had come from Delhi to cover the development works, the preparation of elections, and so on. They had been here for some days. This morning, when they went out with the police personnel of Dantewada's Aranpur, the incident took place. It would have probably occurred when the vehicle in which they were travelling reached near Nilwaya, where the Naxals had already planted ambush."

Awasthi continued: "There was a poster stuck on the tree by Naxals which the cameraman got down to shoot. At that moment, a bullet from the ambush hit him. Our personnel retaliated immediately and the firing went on for some 50 minutes. Senior officials along with more force reached the spot at the earliest."

As he gave details of the incident, he said that the attack by Naxals was not to meant to harm the media persons but was planted for the people working on road construction. "There was some road construction work underway in that area and Naxals had warned against causing harm if the road work continued. Today's ambush was planted to cause harm to those working in the road construction. The construction has been underway for the last three years and many security personnel have lost their lives in this, but the developmental work has been done and will continue," he asserted.

Awasthi also revealed that a lot of blood was found on the spot, suggesting that around two to three Naxals were also killed in the exchange of fire. "After the incident, we recovered and defused eight to ten Improvised explosive devices from the spot.