BSF battalion deployment in Vizag Agency seems a far cry

Visakhapatnam: The promised deployment of a battalion of Border Security Force (BSF) in Visakha Agency seems a far cry. With state police chief N Sambasiva Rao urging the central government to allot a battalion of CRPF at the high-level meeting chaired by Union home minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi on Monday, the chances of AP getting a BSF battalion are remote, say highly-placed sources.
The state government has been pitching for a battalion of BSF, which has been involved in the anti-naxal operations on the other side of the AP border to curb the Maoist menace.During the visit of Rajnath Singh to Vizag one and a half years ago, the state government had urged him to allocate the BSF battalion.
BSF forces replaced CRPF in the naxal-stronghold districts like Malkangiri and Koraput in Odisha on the border of north Andhra. A battalion (seven companies of each 100 personnel) of BSF was planned to stationed at the proposed police outposts in Visakha Agency. But the BSF higher officials had not visited Visakha Agency till the date. The standard procedure is senior BSF officials would visit the area and assess the conditions at the outposts and geographical conditions of the terrain before deploying the forces.
“When the BSF battalion proposal has not materialised, the state government deoloyed CRPF cops at the newly-constructed outposts at Rallagedda and Rudakota. Initially, we thought that deployment of BSF forces in Visakha agency would yield results as the same force has been involved in anti-naxal operations. So for better coordination of the forces, the state proposed the BSF deployment,” a senior IPS officer involved in anti-naxal operations told TOI.
If a BSF battalion is set up, there would be different standard operating procedures of the force, which may again lead to logistical problems in the tribal areas, he said. “May be this could be one of the reasons for the DGP to ask for CRPF instead of BSF battalion,” he opined.
Meanwhile, Visakha rural SP Rahul Dev Sharma told TOI that they do not have any clue on the deployment of a CRPF battalion in the Agency area.
“We will require more forces to achieve better results in addressing the Maoist menace. As of now, coordination between CRPF and Visakha rural police is good. We are waiting for a word from higher-ups,” he added.