BHUBANESWAR:Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday announced an award of `10 lakh each for Balangir Police and Kandhamal Police for successful anti-Maoist operations in which top cadres were gunned down by security forces.
“Chief Minister appreciated Odisha Police and congratulated Balangir SP and Kandhamal SP for conducting successful anti-Maoist operations in the two districts recently. The Chief Minister also announced that apart from the prescribed rewards, `10 lakh each will be given to district police. This has motivated the security forces conducting anti-Maoist operations,” DGP Dr RP Sharma said while addressing mediapersons on Friday.
Balangir SP K Siva Subramani and Kandhamal SP Prateek Singh, who were present at DGP’s camp office in the Capital, stated that they were motivated after meeting the Chief Minister and the teams of the two districts would try to accomplish better results in the future. The security forces had gunned down seven Left Wing Extremists in two separate operations at Balangir and Kandhamal districts recently. Dr Sharma also informed that a joint operation was launched by Odisha Special Operation Group (SOG) and Andhra Pradesh Greyhounds in the cut-off region of Malkangiri district.
“On Thursday night, there was an exchange of fire between the security forces and the Left Wing Extremists. In the exchange of fire, one extremist was gunned down. The security forces have recovered one self loading rifle (SLR), one 303 rifle and other articles from the spot,” the DGP said.Border Security Force (BSF) also extended support to the security forces for carrying out the anti-Maoist operation.