The Hindu : Strategy against PW in Palnadu pays off: DGP

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 16, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad

Strategy against PW in Palnadu pays off: DGP

By K. Srinivas Reddy

HYDERABAD Feb. 15. Has the police strategy of dealing tough with the People's War (PW) paid off in the Palnadu area of Guntur district?

The State police chief, Pervaram Ramulu, affirms that the strategy of launching an effective military offensive even while retaining the human face to the police force during the counter-revolutionary operations has yielded positive results within the shortest possible time.

``The tide has turned in our favour in Guntur district. The surrender of over 70 PW militants during the last 45 days or so would alone speak of the efficacy of the police action. The police force which was demoralised after a series of PW offences is now in battle-fit condition'', Mr. Ramulu asserted.

Mr. Ramulu, who will be completing his one-year of term as the DG&IGP on Monday told The Hindu that the biggest achievement for the police was that they could stem the "inflow'' into the PW in the Palnadu area from where the revolutionary movement was all poised to spread to Krishna and West Godavari districts. Elsewhere in the State, the problem of Left Wing Extremism was well under control.

The police strategy was mainly to focus on educating people about the dangers of joining the underground movement and this was effectively done through a "poster war'' in Guntur where the police published the names and details of all the semi-underground PW militants. With the poster war commencing immediately after the police launching the military offensive, societal pressure began mounting on the militants to surrender.

``It's not only in Guntur, but all over the State the PW movement is coming down. The naxalite violence has dropped by 30 per cent mainly due to area domination strategy successfully implemented by SPs of Warangal, Karimnagar, Adilabad and Nizamabad,'' Mr. Ramulu proudly claims. Even in other parts where the naxal movement was felt, effective steps were being initiated. "My boys are doing extremely well,'' the police chief smiles.

Replying to a question on involving the civil administration in fighting the PW movement, Mr. Ramulu asserts that to a large extent the SPs are taking initiative in this direction, but more can be done. The Government, he says, recognised the crucial aspect also. In respect of Guntur district, the Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, had relaxed the ban on transfer of revenue officials within 10 minutes of being told that administration had to be galvanised, if the extremist movement had to be tackled in Guntur.

However, the partial success in managing to stop the recruitment into the PW should not be taken as a total success. "They are capable of mounting an offensive. We have to be on our toes,'' the DGP sounded a note of caution. He is somewhat wary of the developments in neighbouring States where the PW movement was gaining strength in the absence of a focussed attention by civil and police administrations.

Mr. Ramulu points out that dacoities and robberies have registered a downward trend by 30 to 40 per cent. The reason, according to him, was the tough stand taken by the police who "neutralised'' several dacoit gangs in operations. "In the case of the Jinnah gang, more than 2,000 policemen and officers worked and ultimately the gang leader Jinnah was shot dead in Cuddapah district''.

The DGP said that the police had been successful in busting two ISI modules in the State and based on the inputs given by police, similar modules were busted in other States. "The biggest achievement for the State police is that the it recorded lowest crime rate of 159.5 per lakh as against a national average of 174 points. By far this is the biggest achievement for us''.

On the question of the focus areas for the police, Mr. Ramulu said in addition to reducing the property offences and the impact of Left Wing Extremism, the high incidence of fatal road accidents is engaging the attention now. While 2,300 people died in crime-related incidents in 2002, about 9,300 persons lost their lives in road accidents. "Our focus now is to reduce the accidents'', he says.

Shortly, the State police would be pressing into service 60 vehicles exclusively for highway patrolling. Those manning the vehicles will check illegal plying of vehicles, drunken driving and overspeeding on highways.

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