IGP Chandra Kishore Mina By Dheeraj Fartode Chandra Kishore Mina, an IPS officer of the 2006 batch, has been awarded the President’s Police Medal for Meritorious Service. Currently serving as Special Inspector General of Police (IGP) for the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), Mina has held several important positions in Nagpur and the Vidarbha region. While serving as ASP in Gadchiroli, Mina led a successful anti-Naxal operation in 2009, which resulted in the Petha encounter, weakening the Naxal movement. This operation earned him the DG Insignia. As SP in Akola and Nanded, Mina used innovative methods to maintain communal harmony and resolve tensions effectively. He uncovered a state-wide kidney transplant racket in Akola and, as DCP in Nagpur, dismantled organized crime syndicates through MCOCA and MPDA cases. In Nanded, Mina detected a recruitment scam that affected the entire state. His technological skills were evident when he implemented the court monitoring system in Akola. As DCP in M...
By Dheeraj Fartode
To strengthen telecommunication network in Naxal hotbed of Maharashtra, Central Government has given its nod to erection of 60 mobile network towers in Gadchiroli, Gondia, and Chandrapur districts. Accordingly, State Home Department has constituted a monitoring committee under the chairmanship of Principal Secretary and seven members including Director General of Police.
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| Mobile phone tower in maoist area |
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has approved the project cost, and 60 towers are expected to be operationalised within 12 months. This is a part of the proposal cleared by Central Government in August 2014, to erect as many as 2,199 mobile network service towers in Naxal-affected areas of the country. Of a total 60 towers to be erected in Maharashtra, 37 will be in Gadchiroli, 17 in Gondia, and six in Chandrapur district.
Sandip Patil, Superintendent of Police (SP), Gadchiroli, told ‘The Hitavada’ that the development would benefit Intelligence gathering and operational utility. According to him, the towers would be heplful on operational and personal fronts. On operational front, informers will be able to pass on the information to Intelligence personnel easily and quickly. This would help the cops in launching operation against Naxals swiftly. Currently, in absence of telecommunication towers, informers have to travel through the jungle for long distance to get mobile network connectivity and then they are able to pass on the information. This delay gives time to Naxals for movement and cops fail to locate the extremists, said Patil.
On personal front, availability of network will help field staff to connect with their family and loved ones. This will reduce psychological pressure on the field staff, Patil said. All towers would be erected at police post or the premises of security establishments. It may be recalled that Naxals had blown off around five mobile towers in last five years in affected districts in Nagpur Division.
Another senior police officer said that there was no proper communication system in Naxal-affected area and informers were fed up with travelling long distances to reach out to Intelligence officials. “A few of the combing operations based on Intelligence inputs failed due to time consumed in information sharing process,” he said. There is another advantage also for cops once the towers are operationalised. “Naxals, too, can use the network against security forces. Once they use it, they can be tracked through mobile surveillance and tracking systems,” added another official.
The towers would be erected by BSNL’s Universal Social Obligation Fund (USOF). Naxal strongholds like Asaralli and Zinganoor in Sironcha, Manne Rajaram in Bhamragarh, Murumgaon, Gyarapatti, and other places in Gadchiroli district are expected to now come under mobile telecommunication service coverage.
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