High Alert Sounded In Odisha Ahead Of PLGA Week

Bhubaneswar: High alert has been sounded in all Maoist-hit districts of Odisha ahead of the annual People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) Week to be observed from December 2 to 8.

Sources said that the Maoists, during the week-long programme, will conduct meetings and rally in all villages and offer tributes to their comrades who were killed in police encounters. Apart from this, efforts will be made to induct young men and women into the outfit and construct martyr pillars in the villages to reminisce the sacrifice of their comrades.

High alert has also been sounded in all districts bordering Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand to foil any attempt by the Left-wing extremists as they usually resort to violence during the period.

The central forces in Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada and Kandhamal districts have been asked to keep a strict vigil on the movement of the Maoists and foil their attempt to infiltrate into Odisha.

Apart from this, the district police, Special Operation Group (SOG) and the District Voluntary Force (DVF) have been asked to intensify combing operations.

The PLGA week is being observed since 2000 from the first anniversary of the killing of three members of its central committee members at Koyyuru forest in Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh on December 2, 1999.

Speaking on the change of leadership in the banned CPI-Maoist in which Ganapathy alias Muppala Lakshmana Rao, the 71-year-old general secretary, was replaced by his second-in-command Nambala Keshava Rao alias Basavaraj (63), an expert in explosives, Director General of Police (DGP) RP Sharma on Wednesday told the media that the Odisha Police was aware of the development.

“It does not matter who becomes the new chief of the banned outfit as the State Police will carry on with the anti-Maoist operations,” the DGP had pointed out.