Monday, February 25, 2008

Asst Commandant Pramod's family to get Rs 15 lakh

Bhubaneswar (visakeo)The State Government on Thursday announced a compassionate grant of Rs 5 lakh for Assistant Commandant of Special Operation Group (SOG) Pramod Kumar Satpathy, who made the supreme sacrifice during the combing operation against the Maoists in Gasama jungle.
Making a statement during an adjournment motion on law and order in the House, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced that a compassionate grant of Rs 4 lakh each had also been sanctioned for the families of the other police personnel killed during the operation.
In addition, insurance coverage of Rs 10 lakh would be given for each deceased police personnel. "The State Government would also provide appointment to the next of kin of each deceased police personnel," he said. Sources said Pramod's family would receive a total compensation of Rs 15 lakh including that of insurance coverage.
Constable Sushanta Gouda and Sepoy SN Panda were also killed during the anti-Maoist combing operation.
In order to intensify its combing operation, the State Government for the first time has engaged forest officials in the operation. They would guide forces to find out the routes in the dense forest of Kandhamal and Gajapati. Sniffer dog squads, which were pressed into operation to detect landmines and find the bodies of the militants, have so far detected 20 landmines and found some blood soaked fatigues.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said in the Assembly on Thursday that combing operations were on and forces had been pressed into operation. "The number of Maoist related incidents is much less compared to the neighbouring Maoist affected States like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar," he said.
"Police forces are at this very moment engaged in a battle of life and death in the jungles with the Maoists. We should rise above other considerations and respect the efforts of the gallant men," he said. The security forces have recovered 40 per cent of the looted weapons and 70 per cent of the ammunition, Patnaik added.
Giving a reply to the adjournment motion, Patnaik said "Extremism had started many decades ago as an ideology for the poor. It has now been overtaken by terrorism, mafia behaviour and its leaders and cadre have been indulging in heinous acts of extortions, drug trade, murder and rape."
With the adjournment motion being accepted for discussion, the stalemate over the House on the Maoist issue came to an end and normalcy was restored. Coming down heavily upon deputy leader of Opposition Narasingh Mishra's remarks that Maoist activities have increased due to increase in poverty, Patnaik said it was during the regime of the Congress that people were languishing in poverty as the growth rate was between 3.2 per cent to 5.2 per cent. "However, during the 10th Plan, it has climbed to 7.2 per cent," he said, adding that the State had overtaken the per capita annual NSDP growth rate of the country.
Throwing the ball into the Opposition's court, Patnaik said the Opposition should appeal to the Centre to reduce the BPL families by 10 lakh. He further said that special steps had been taken to address the land-related issues of tribal people. "As many as 9,098 forest cases involving minor offences and 2,938 criminal cases against the tribal have been dropped," he said. However, the Opposition alleged that the Government had totally failed in curbing the Maoist menace in the State.

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