Police command and control system failed in Nayagarh

Bhubaneswar (visakeo)-Maoists attacked different police institutions in Nayagarh district late night on February 15, killed 14 police personnel and looted the armoury before melting into the darkness of night. Similar Maoist attacks had taken place at the State's far-off southern places of Koraput and R Udayagiri during the last four years. Nayagarh is probably different from others in the extent of cruelty with which the brave police personnel were butchered and the amount of arms and ammunition looted.
The modus operandi of the attackers has been quite similar on the earlier two occasions. Then too, the attackers overwhelmed the defenders with their sheer numbers. The family members of the dead police personnel would definitely be interested to know what, if any, lesson has been learnt and whether any action was taken to prevent recurrence of the events. There are talks now of fortifying the police stations with better building designs, walls with barbed wire fences and such things.
When determined attackers in Kashmir, UP and other States are able to penetrate the fortifications of the Army and CRPF camps, how much the latest moves in Orissa would help keep the determined Red attackers at bay is a moot point. Taking a senior police official hostage or ramming a vehicle through the walls will not be beyond the capabilities of committed cadres that the Maoists claim to have.
Better weapons for the police would, perhaps, not achieve much beyond boosting the morale of the police force. In fact, in remote areas, this move has the potential of being taken advantage by the Maoists and use for their own benefit, as has been demonstrated at places like Koraput, R Udayagiri and Nayagarh.
As per available reports, two conclusions about the Nayagarh tragedy can be easily drawn. One is the failure of the police intelligence and the second is the failure of the command and control system to react to an emergency of this type. These also were the conclusions in the Koraput and R Udayagiri incidents. No amount of fortification can prevent such incidents unless the element of the Maoists' surprise attack is blunted with effective intelligence.
Hundreds of people mounting an attack on a town need a lot of planning, elaborate arrangement of logistics and coordination till the last minute. It is impossible that some members of public did not notice anything, particularly when so many people either travelled hundreds of kilometers with arms and ammunitions or trickled in and hid nearby for a few days. But if anybody noticed any thing unusual, they obviously chose not to bother.
The second and, the more important, issue is the apparent failure of the command and control system of the police to react to such a situation. No available report suggests any collapse of the telecom network in the public domain in Nayagarh that fateful night. When members of the public and the media in Bhubaneswar were aware of something terrible going on in Nayagarh, it was impossible that the police top brass were unaware of it.
If they did know, then they owe an explanation to their own people as to what action they initiated. If they did not, then that in itself is a major problem because action on that information perhaps could have saved some other police stations which the attackers targeted on their way out of Nayagarh. They could also have used the knowledge to delay the escape of the attackers by creating obstructions on the roads.
Nayagarh is less than two hours away from Bhubaneswar, and creating obstacles on the path of escape of the attackers along with reinforcements from the State headquarters could have resulted in an effective retaliatory action. The real story will come out some day, but as of now it appears that the decision makers simply never knew what hit them.
The fear of consequence of action deters criminals from implementing their plans. The ease with which the Maoists have carried out their plans at place after place in the State over the last few years would have definitely emboldened them and pushed their morale sky high.
So, Orissa can expect more of these attacks in coming years and that would hardly boost the morale of inhabitants and investors alike. The claim of killing hundreds of Maoists in encounters is fine but more is necessary to boost the confidence of the common man.