THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Daltonganj, March 30: Shelter for the CAPF (central armed police force) is being assessed and evaluated by Garhwa SP Deepak Pandey ahead of the Lok Sabha election.
Sources said CAPF companies will arrive in the Palamu Lok Sabha constituency about two weeks before the May 13 voting.
Area domination
Sources said the CAPF will carry out area domination and sanitisation of roads and culverts.
As CAPF will be a composite of other states, familiarisation with the topography and terrain here will be necessary.
Residents like the BSF, ITBP, and SSB, like elite forces, but feel nervous when they see Punjab police around.
The CAPF companies are to be housed well with minimum discomfort.
Government schools
On Friday, the Garhwa SP and CRPF officials made a detour to some of the government schools located in Ramkanda and Bhandarya police station limits to see for themselves what facilities are available and what is amiss.
Speaking to the Jharkhand Story correspondent, Deepak Pandey said, “We found the premises and building generally appropriate for housing the CAPF, but there can’t be any compromise with facilities like proper toilets and drinking water.”
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Pandey reminded that these two facilities have to be fully assured. He agreed that some locations must improve their toilets and drinking water amenities further.
As it involves CAPF, the SP was most tongue-in-cheek to elaborate.
No security officer is inclined to speak about the number of CAPF companies arriving here, as what the security officer says is a diplomatic answer: “It will be quite adequate and sufficient.”
Sources reminded me there was a time in Palamu Lok Sabha constituency when 40 plus companies of the then-called CPMF used to come. It was because of the then-raging naxalism.
It was for the first time in 1995 here that the then MCC (Maoist Communist Centre) had given a call to boycott polls. It had a devastating impact then.
However, in ten years or more, this poll boycott call of the Naxals lost its hold as poor voters mustered the courage to defy the diktat of the Naxals. Today, it’s a forgotten thing completely.
Polling is a joyful fest
Realising the mass reaction to the poll boycott call, the Naxals, too, began to roll it back without giving an impression of yielding to public pressure.
Today, polling is joyful, and erstwhile Red soil casts more votes than other Green soil. Red soil stands for the Naxal belt, while Green soil is for the non-Naxal stretch.
The fall of the Burha Pahar has come as a shock to the Maoists here. Burha Pahar was freed from the Maoists in 2022.
