New Delhi: Newly appointed Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) DG Kuldiep Singh on Thursday said that a total of 725 CAPF companies will be deployed in West Bengal for the upcoming polls, out of which 495 have already been sent to the state.
In an annual press conference, the DG CRPF has said that one company normally has 72 personnel.
Elections to the 294-member state assembly will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.
Talking about CRPF in 2020, Singh said, "In Jammu and Kashmir where the force works in close coordination with the JKP and Indian Army, 215 terrorists were neutralised in the year 2020 and 11 terrorists have been neutralised this year. Only a few days back we neutralised four terrorists in two different operations. This included top Jaish commander Sajjad Afghani who was neutralised in Shopian in a joint operation." The CRPF has also been successful in ensuring conduct of free and fair DDC elections in Jammu and Kashmir which were organised in eight phases last year.
While giving details about Naxalite areas, the newly appointed DG, in a press statement, also said that in the LWE affected arrears, there has been significant reduction in the cases of Maoist violence. "With our persistent operations and capacity building we have pushed the Maoists into corners and restricted their activity," he said.
"The force has ventured deeper into the Maoist strongholds and has set up 18 Forward Operating Bases to maximise its reach and operational effectiveness in the areas. This has enabled swifter operations and immediate actions on intelligence inputs" the DG said.
"The number of apprehensions and surrenders has increased. While 569 Maoists in 2020 and 141 in 2021 were apprehended, 340 Maoists in 2020 and 108 in 2021 have left the path of violence and surrendered. 32 Maoists have been neutralised in 2020 and 5 in 2021.
"Two days ago, On March 16, four Maoists were neutralised by 205 CoBRA and Bihar Police in Gaya district of Bihar. These include the Magadh Zonal Commander Amresh Singh Bhokta, and three sub-Zonal Commanders Shivpujan Yadav, Sita Bhuiyan, and Uday Paswan," the DG added.
