Security Forces Seize Naxal Stronghold Puvarthi in Bastar

Security forces established a Forward Operating Base (FOB) in the village of Puvarthi falling under Jagargunda police station on February 14, breaking the myth created by Maoists in the region for decades that the village is an impregnable fort of ultras.

“The tribal village, located in the core Maoist zone of south Bastar, has produced no less than 90 hardcore Naxals who have now been given key roles by CPI (Maoist) in different Leftwing extremism-hit areas in the country”, Prof Girishkant Pandey who has done his PhD in Leftwing insurgency in Bastar and is currently serving as HoD of Defence Studies, Government NPG College of Science, told this newspaper on Friday.

The development is a major victory for the security forces in their ongoing psychological warfare with Maoists in Bastar which is certainly going to hit recruitment of Naxal cadres in the combat zone very hard, he added.

According to him, infrastructures such as roads and telecommunication will be developed in a five-km area surrounding the camp which will help security forces keep the local Maoists under surveillance.

“Setting up security camps in remote and heavily Leftwing extremism-affected areas like Puvarthi will help thousands of villagers get rid of Maoist menace and usher in development in the area”, Bastar range inspector general of police P Sunderraj told this newspaper.

Puvarthi is a native village of Hidma, the former commander of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) battalion number one of outlawed CPI (Maoist) and incumbent commander Barse Deva.

Last month, Hidma was promoted as a Central Committee (CC) member of CPI (Maoist), the highest policy making body of the ultras.

Hidma was said to have led some major attacks on security personnel in Bastar in the last one and half decades including the massacre of 76 CRPF personnel in Tadmetla in Sukma in April, 2010.

The village has no electricity. But, the houses of some hardcore Maoists in the village, who have fled their homes now, have been electrified by solar panels.

According to a senior district police officer of Sukma, the Maoists had taken over the farmlands and ponds in the village to do farming and fish cultivation by employing the local tribals.

The farmlands and the pond in the village have now been restored to the rightful owners in the village.

A health camp was organised by security forces in the village four days ago where Hidma’s mother and family members of Deva were provided treatment.

In the last three and half months, as many as 14 security camps have been established in the Maoist zone of south Bastar.