RAIPUR: Summer, usually the toughest time for security forces battling Naxal insurgency in Chhattisgarh, has passed off relatively peacefully this year.
Naxal attacks on security forces increase between March and June when the rebels carry out what officials term as the 'Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign' (TCOC).
The ultras carry out most of the offensives during summer as tall grasses and bushes dry up during the season, providing clear visibility to them about the movement of security forces in forests.
Some of the major Naxal attacks, such as the Tadmetla incident of 2010 in which 76 security personnel were killed, have taken place in the summer.
But, various camps set up in Naxal strongholds by security forces in the last three years have helped the latter gain the upper hand against the rebels during this year's TCOC and minimise losses, police claimed.
According to police statistics, seven security personnel were killed and 43 injured in 131 Naxal incidents till June 30 this year.
As many as 41 security personnel were killed and 103 injured during the same period last year.
Twenty-eight security personnel were killed and 50 injured in 2020, while 16 personnel were killed and 26 wounded in 2019 during the same period.
Between January 1 and June 30 this year, 14 Naxals were killed, while 18 rebels were killed in 2021, 20 in 2020 and 28 in 2019 during the same period.
At least 43 new operational base camps were opened by security forces in strategically important locations like Minpa, Elmagunda, Potakapalli, Tarrem, Kademetta, Nahadi and Chandametta (in seven districts of Bastar region), Inspector General of Police (Bastar Range) Sundarraj P told PTI.
"These are not only facilitating development works in the region, but have also helped in blocking Naxal corridors and supply chains," he said.
During the TCOC period this year, security forces carried out all the operational tasks carefully and tactfully, he said.
"The strategy yielded significant results, like the recovery of bodies of more than 14 Naxals following encounters while 286 rebels surrendered till June. We also succeeded in minimising losses on our side," the official said.
Of the new camps, eight were set up this summer, he said.
The security forces also recovered 63 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and 26 weapons during operations in this period, the IG said.
"We would continue to sustain this advantage by increasing our reach in the areas where there is a security vacuum and thereby take steps to improve the administrative delivery mechanism there," he said.
Asked if the decline in violence in Bastar was part of the Maoists' strategy to shift their base from the region to the Madhya Pradesh-Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh zone, the IG said a typical modus operandi of the banned CPI (Maoist) outfit is to build pressure elsewhere when they face heat in a particular area.
But due to effective coordination among security personnel along the inter-district and inter-state borders, Maoists have been facing pressure in most of their erstwhile strongholds, he claimed.
According to police, around 40,000 security personnel -- 30,000 from paramilitary forces and 10,000 of the state police -- are deployed in the Bastar region for counter-insurgency operations.
Records show that Naxals have mounted major attacks during the TCOC.
On April 3 last year, 22 security personnel were killed in a Maoist ambush along the border of Sukma and Bijapur districts.
Seventeen security personnel were killed in a Naxal ambush in Minpa of Sukma on March 21, 2020.
On April 9, 2019, BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi and four security personnel were killed in a Naxal blast in the Dantewada district.
An attack in Burkapal area of Sukma on April 24, 2017 claimed the lives of 25 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel.
Besides, nine CRPF personnel were killed after Naxals blew up a mine-protected vehicle (MPV) in March 2018.
Even the deadliest Tadmetla attack that claimed the lives of 76 security personnel took place in April 2010.
On the decline in Naxal incidents during the TCOC, CRPF's Chhattisgarh sector IG Saket Kumar Singh said security forces have developed ways and means to tackle the traditional strategy of Maoists.
"Naxals operate with the age-old guerrilla warfare philosophy of hit, snatch weapons and vanish into the jungle. They also resort to planting IEDs. Recently, there is also a trend of extensive use of country-made barrel grenade launchers," Singh said.
"Of late, the forces have developed ways and means to tackle these threats. Further, we are now taking the fight to their doorsteps," he said.
It has become easier for security forces to launch special operations against Naxals from the new camps established in the interior regions, he said.
"It's not that Naxals haven't resisted our ingress into their domain. A number of attacks did take place on the camps, but every time the rebels had to retreat, licking their wounds. The troops are now in a dominant position and moving ahead," he said.
Refuting reports that anti-Naxal operations have been curtailed, Singh said there was in fact an increase in the frequency of operations.
"Due to the aggressive and intensive joint operations by the CRPF and state police, the Naxal cadres are on the back foot," he claimed.
Thirty-eight CRPF battalions (each having around 1,000 personnel) are deployed in Chhattisgarh, mostly in the Bastar region which comprises seven districts- Bastar, Kanker, Kondagaon, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Dantewada and Sukma.