From Our Correspondent
GUWAHATI: In view of increasing presence of Maoists in the State, Assam government has decided to organise special training for its police force on countering the threat posed by the red brigade even as the State government has ordered probe into the recent incidents of youths from certain districts going missing.
Announcing this Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi no Monday said that though the counter-insurgency Unified Command (UC) comprising the State Police, paramilitary force and the Army was at work in the state to fight insurgents, special training would be given to the police force to fight Maoists who follow a different way to strike roots.
“The Maoists work differently. They are not like other insurgent groups. They try to influence the common people and mobilise mass support by spreading their ideology. They need to be tackled in a special way for which we need have a specially trained police force. We will take help from the Centre in organizing special training for our policemen to fight Maoists. Of course, the Unified Command will remain in force to tackle threat from insurgents,” Gogoi said.
Gogoi said that the Maoist movement in the State must be nipped in the bud for the sake of continuation of the development process in the State. “The State has been on the path of development for the last few years in the wake restoration of peace. The process can’t be allowed to be jeopardized again by Maoist.” Meanwhile, Assam government has instructed administration of at least seven districts of the State – Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sivasagar, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Golaghat and Jorhat – to probe into disappearance of a large number of youths from remote areas in recent times. The government suspects that these missing youths may have been lured away by Maoist. The Maoists have become very active in eastern Assam’s Tinsukia district bordering Arunachal Pradesh.
Counterfeit currency notes: Alarmed at reports about proliferation of counterfeit currency notes in the State, the Chief Minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi on Monday announced that a special cell would be set up in Assam Police under an IGP level officer to mount surveillance on fake currency rackets.
He said Assam having border with Bangladesh stood vulnerable to proliferation of fake currency. “We will have a special cell in the State Police to deal with fake currency notes which are very difficult to identify now a days and mostly pushed into the State through the international border. We will take help and make use of expertise available with the Centre in countering the threat.”