Police Comb Maoist Areas With Choppers, Drones On Election Eve

 Visakhapatnam: Para-military forces including the Greyhounds with the help of two helicopters, 10 drones and seven sniffer dogs began a surveillance of the Maoist-prominent areas of the ASR district in the run-up to the May 13 elections in AP.

An official of the ASR district told Deccan Chronicle that the security forces are on alert in view of the recent encounter in Chhattisgarh that resulted in the death of 12 Maoists. Preemptive measures have been taken to prevent Maoist infiltrations into AP.

He said 20 Greyhound teams, each with 10 members, have been deployed along the borders of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and AOB. “As approximately 590 booths are vulnerable to attacks, these personnel are strategically distributed, with 23 personnel assigned to each area for patrolling, while 10 mobile teams were sent to key booths. Suspicious persons are being questioned, but there have been no arrests.

Additionally, there are 93 Road Opening Parties (ROP), each comprising 10 members, and 90 Area Domination Parties, that too of 10 members each. The total strength of the deployment is 3000, supported by two helicopters, seven sniper dog teams and ten drones.

“These resources are primarily allocated to maximize security in the armed outpost (AOP) areas during the election process in ASR,’’ the official said.

Reports said ASR and Parvathipuram Manyam districts have identified 651 LWE-sensitive polling stations and 238 law and order problem stations.

The ASR district alone has 610 LWE-sensitive polling stations and 85 law and order sensitive stations out of the total 1021 polling stations. The ASR district election officer has arranged two helicopters to fly the polling officials to the Gruttedu polling station under Y Ramavaram mandal of Rampachodavaram assembly constituency.

Araku Lok Sabha (ST) seat, which consists of LWE-affected assembly segments like Paderu, Araku Valley, Rampachodavaram, Parvathipuram and Saluru, will go to polls on May 13.

Some 30 polling booths in Chintoor and Munchingput mandals have been shifted due to the Maoist-threat perception. Maoists last month released a pamphlet in Munchingput and other areas close to the Odisha border, appealing to the people to boycott the elections.

In Parvathipuram Manyam district, out of a total 981 polling stations, 41 have been identified as Maoist-sensitive and 153 as law and order problem stations.