Maoists’ ‘jugaad’ BGL, a ‘potent’ weapon in Naxal weaponry

The ‘desi’ BGL was developed in the Naxals’ arms factory around two decades ago and is being improvised continuously to make it the ‘most effective’ weapon in the guerrilla warfare against security forces in the jungles.

“The ‘jugaad’ BGL is one of the best weapons developed by the Naxals considering its effectiveness in guerrilla warfare against the security forces as well as the lack of sophistication in its production.

A lathe machine, cutter, and welding equipment and iron plates are needed to make the weapon anywhere”, Dr Girish Kant Pandey, Head of the Department of Defence Studies in the Government PG College of Science, Raipur, told this newspaper on Wednesday.

Its cost of production is also very cheap, Dr Pandey, who has done PhD on ‘Leftwing extremism’ in Bastar in Chhattisgarh said.

Bastar range inspector general of police P Sunderraj disclosed to this newspaper that the ‘desi’ BGL was developed by Maoists around 18 years ago and is being improvised continuously.

It is a 'bore kind' of weapon, he said.

Maoists upgrade the normal rifle or a muzzle loading gun to develop them into a ‘jugaad’ BGL by mounting an iron pipe in them through the welding process.

Maoists also use crude methods to make detonators for the BGL with the help of stainless steel and cortex wire.

“But, the success rate of detonation of shells fired from the ‘jugaad’ BGL of Maoists is as low as 40 percent. The shells explode only when they hit a hard surface”, Mr Sunderraj said.

The Maoist-developed BGL has a range of 250-300 meters whereas a sophisticated under barrel grenade launcher (UBGL) in possession of security forces has a range of around 600 meters, according to him.

“Still Maoist-developed BGL is a potent weapon in Naxal weaponry”, he added.

According to him, only one security man was killed in the BGL attack by Maoists so far in Bastar.

A jawan was killed in the BGL attack by Maoists at Tekalgudem in Sukma district in south Bastar in 2022.

The BGL attacks by Maoists mostly caused injuries to the jawans.

Security forces have so far recovered around 15 BGLs and 500 detonators in different encounters and raids in Maoists camps so far in Bastar.