Government to use drones against Naxals

The Israeli drones to be pressed into action in Naxal-hit areas, that are controlled through ground stations miles away, will give the security forces real-time intelligence and imagery to track the movement of rebels even through thick jungles. “They will make the battlezone transparent for us,’’ said an official. Senior security officials have been arguing for better technology to help the CRPF in unfamiliar terrain. The deployment of drones comes even as the PM seems to have indicated that he did not think the use of helicopter gunships was a good idea in fighting Maoists. Using gunships to fire at insurgents, and the possibility of collateral victims, was pretty much a no-go scenario for security forces, said sources. Apart from using two to three of the Israeli Heron and Searcher-II drones now with the IAF and the army, the home ministry is also expediting procurement of Israeli UAVs for paramilitary forces like the CRPF, BSF and the ITBP. One new Israeli UAV, in fact, will be tested on a trial basis as early as next week in the Naxal-infested areas. Subsequently, the ministry will put three-four more such drones for air surveillance over Jharkhand, Bihar, Bengal and Maharashtra. Though IAF UAVs were deployed for reconnaissance in Chhattisgarh in 2008, they were withdrawn because of the absence of required infrastructure in the state. “The government has now set up the paraphernalia needed to control UAVs in remote areas,’’ said an official. The home ministry, meanwhile, is in the process of taking other measures to better the capacity of the paramilitary forces in terms of their training for specific duties in Naxal hubs. “We are in the process of bifurcating the CRPF, with one part dedicated to operational works in Naxal and insurgency-hit areas and the other for soft duties like riot control and others like helping arms of states,’’ said an official. At present, the CRPF has to deploy the same personnel for soft duties as well as counter-insurgency operations as there are no separate battalions for different tasks, leading to poor quality of deployment for various operations. Though Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Special Action Force (SAF) squads have been set up for riot control and anti-Naxal operations, respectively, the government still has to depend on poorly-trained CRPF personnel to assist them.