Top cops of 27 worst Maoist-hit districts in the country on Thursday huddled for a two-day session in New Delhi to fine-tune their strategy to counter Maoist violence.
The meet was preponed by a day by the Union Home Ministry after the initial dates (July 26-27) were publicised.
Fearing Maoist attacks against police officers during their travel, Home Ministry decided to change the dates.
The meeting, convened against thebackdrop of May 25 Chhattisgarh ambush and the killing of Jharkhand SP Amarjit Balihar on July 3, is attended by Superintendents of Police of the districts and commandants of paramilitary forces, who heads the operations, as well as development officers. The highlight of the meet is a presentation by Mohd Suvez Haque, SP of Maharashtra's Gadchiroli, who is credited for adopting innovative methods to tackle Left wing extremism in his district.
Haque will give the presentation on Friday on the methods adopted by him to unsettle Maoists in one of their strongholds.
Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami, Director of Intelligence Bureau chief Asif Ibrahim, Inspector Generals in-charge of operations in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Odisha are expected to attend the meeting.
The meeting will review the anti-Maoist strategy, the success and reverses received so far and the methodology taken by the Maoists to carry out their attacks as well as how to face the new challenges on the ground.
Though the Maoist violence has shown a decline this year, security establishment is not leaving any stone unturned as it believes that the Maoists have a knack of surprise attacks as seen in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. This year till June 15, the country witnessed 552 incidents in which 192 people were killed as against 811 incidents and 231 killings during the corresponding period last year.
There were 9,789 incidents of Maoist violence across the country since 2008 in which a total of 3,852 people were killed.
Administrators and security experts believe that there should be a constant presence of personnel on ground to tackle the menace.
The Centre on its part is preparing development projects for Maoist-hit states with the next meeting of Union Cabinet likely to take up a proposal to provide a stand-alone Rs 1,000 crore additional central assistance to districts affected by Maoist-violence. No new districts beyond the existing 82 districts will be considered for inclusion in this scheme.
The Rural Development Ministry is also rolling out a placement linked skill development scheme targeting 50,000 men and women in Maoist-affect districts from November 1.