Sacrifices of CRPF men won't go in vain: Govt on Sukma attack

New Delhi: The government on Thursday asserted in Parliament that the sacrifices of 12 CRPF personnel, who were killed in a naxal attack in Chhattisgarh last week, will not go in vain.

The government said all support will be provided to the forces as well as states in dealing with the naxal menace and the Left-wing extremists will not be allowed to succeed in misleading the people and depriving them from benefits of development.

Making a statement in the Rajya Sabha on recent attack on security forces at Sukma, Chhattisgarh, Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said 12 personnel were martyred and 2 were seriously injured in this unfortunate incident.

The condition of injured personnel is stable and they are out of danger, he said, and read out the names of all 12 martyrs and two injured security forces. "I assure the House that their sacrifices will not go in vain," Ahir said.

Claiming that the Left-wing extremists have suffered unprecedented losses during last year, the minister said, "They (naxals) will continue to attempt such incidents to restore the flagging morale of their cadres."

He said the country's brave soldiers and officers would continue to respond with firm resolve and contribute towards elimination of Left-wing extremism.

On the incident of March 11, he said, "There is a need for introspection in this incident."

Ahir said the Home Minister has directed the DG, CRPF to conduct a detailed inquiry into the incident in order to identify lapses and reduce the possibility of such incidents in the future.

"I assure the House that the government is committed to providing all support to the CAPF (Central Armed Police Forces) in order to prepare them for their tasks. In the same way, the government is also committed to supporting the states for training, capacity building, provision of CAPF battalions as required and intelligence sharing," Ahir said.

Referring to the Chhattisgarh incident, he said the next of kin of the martyred CRPF personnel will be provided Rs 35 lakh as ex-gratia from the central government, Rs 20 lakh from the Risk Fund of CRPF and Rs 1 lakh from the CRPF Welfare Fund.

They will also get Rs 25 lakh as insurance benefits and Rs 3 lakh as ex-gratia from the Chhattisgarh government.

The next of kin will also be provided full salary till the age of superannuation of the personnel martyred under the Liberalised Pensionary Award, the minister said.

He said the unprecedented success of the security forces of late has led to evident uneasiness among the Left-wing extremists groups.

Reeling out data, he said 135 Left-wing extremist cadres were eliminated, 779 arrested and 1,198 surrendered in Chhattisgarh during 2016. The number of violent incidents in the state fell by 15 per cent from 466 in 2015 to 395 in 2016.

Talking about the improved efficacy of the security forces, Ahir said the number of Left-wing extremists killed increased by 150 per cent at 222 last year against 89 in 2015.

"Surrenders and arrests registered a combined increase of 47 per cent over 2015 (2238 to 3282). Only 3 weapons were lost by the security forces in 2016 as against 15 in 2015," the minister said.

Moreover, he said that 67 per cent of encounter/exchange of fire resulted in neutralisation of Left-wing extremist cadres as against only 36 per cent in 2015.

The sustained operations by the security forces ensured that South Bastar districts witnessed a considerable fall in violence in 2016 at 252 incidents against 326 in 2015.