Raipur, April 8 (Inditop.com) The air force can only play a limited role in the thick forests of Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, security officials in the Maoist stronghold said Thursday amid indications that the government might “revisit” the issue of using air power against the guerrillas.
The debate of using the air force against Maoists has intensified after Home Minister P. Chidambaram told a press conference following the massacre of 76 security personnel: “At present there is no mandate to use the air force against Maoists but the government may revisit the mandate for some operations.”
He was addressing a press conference in Jagdalpur, the headquarters of Bastar district, after paying homage to the troopers killed Tuesday in the worst attack since Maoists began their insurgency four decades ago.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said later that all options were open but no decision had been taken.
According to a senior police official posted in Bastar to coordinate operations between Bijapur and Dantewada: “I don’t think the air force has much role to play in thickly forested Bastar terrain.
“Sitting in an aircraft and even flying low, you can’t spot a single centimetre of ground across Abujmad and other areas having Maoist terror infrastructure,” the officer told IANS.
Abujmad, which means ‘the land you can’t guess’, is spread out in 4,000 sq km area, in the 40,000 sq km Bastar region. It is known as the nerve centre of the Maoists, and civilians and security forces generally keep away.
Added an intelligence official: “I flew over the Maoist heartland terrain, including Abujmad, at least six times in a helicopter. Except for a forest cap, I could see nothing. It’s impossible to even see the smog coming out from a kitchen hut from the ground.
“In such a case, any idea of aerial pounding is not feasible.”
