KalingaTimes Correspondent
Bhubaneswar, July 2: Caught on the wrong foot in the wake of the Maoist strike in Chitrakonda reservoir in Malkangiri district of the state, Odisha government has tried to put up a brave face saying that it has been pursuing a multi-pronged strategy to combat the naxal problem effectively.

In a clear attempt to save itself from embarrassment, the government issued a comparative violence profile of the neighbouring naxalite affected states showing that it was less hit by the problem in comparison to Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar.

Giving details of the anti-naxalite measures that it had initiated, the government, however, admitted that 15 out of 30 revenue districts of the state had been affected by some degree of naxalite violence by now.

“In 2005, it was 37 incidents leading to 21 deaths including 6 extremists. In 2006, it was 43 incidents leading to 28 deaths including 20 extremists. In 2007, it was 52 incidents leading to 22 deaths including 7 extremists. Till May this year this figure is 18 incidents leading to 26 deaths including 7 extremists,” the government said.

“The naxal militancy in parts of southern, northern and north-western Odisha continues to be an area of major concern. Despite sustained anti-naxalite drive by the security forces, neutralisation of a few key cadres, arrest of many hardcore militants, well conceptualised civic action programme and public awareness campaign and several pro-active people centric development measures in the affected areas, intermittent acts of naxal violence continue to take place,” the government admitted.

“While CPI (Maoist) continues to hold its influence in pockets of Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Gajapati, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Sundargarh and Mayurbhanj district, CPI–ML (Jana Shakti), another Left wing extremist outfit, has made its presence felt in the mineral rich tri-junction areas of Keonjhar, Jajpur and Dhenkanal districts,” the government said in the statement.

The state government it had formulated a comprehensive surrender and rehabilitation scheme with an objective to encourage the naxal cadres to shun violence and join the mainstream. The scheme had come into effect in June 2006.

However, as per the government statement only three hardcore naxalites of Rayagada and Gajapati districts had surrendered so far.