New Delhi: Facing criticism for keeping Central paramilitary forces headless, the Centre on Wednesday hurriedly cleared the appointments of CRPF and ITBP chiefs, two days after the Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma that left 25 security personnel dead.
Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar, an IPS officer of 1983 batch of Uttar Pradesh cadre, was named CRPF chief, while R.K. Pachnanda of the same batch of West Bengal cadre was picked as the new head of the ITBP.
With lack of intelligence-sharing between the state police and the Central forces suspected to be the main reason for high casualty rate of security forces in Maoist-infested Chhattisgarh, Union home minister Rajnath Singh chaired a high-level meeting on Wednesday and asked for strengthening of intelligence-gathering mechanism, analysis of ongoing operations, identification of problem areas and their resolution.
The home minister asked senior officials to prepare a blueprint of the proposed strategy to tackle left-wing extremism. The plan would be presented at the May 8 meeting to be attended by chief ministers as well as top police officials of 10 Naxal-affected states.
