Photo: Malay Kumar
Shishir Kumar
Ranchi
It was a time of rejuvenation for Subedar Major Ramotar Mahto and his 614 colleagues as they packed their bags to move to different naxal-infested areas of Jharkhand.
Mahto a retired soldier of Indian army is the member of the first battalion of the Special Auxiliary Police (SAP) constituted in the State. SAP, a venture of the State Police against extremism, is a new wing of the state police that constitutes of ex-armymen.
The battalion after a training of one and a half months moved to different naxal-infested districts of Jharkhand on Thursday. “I retired a couple of years back and was involved in petty businesses. However, as I was so much into the disciplined life of the army that being a civilian was not that easy. I was impatiently waiting for such an opportunity,” Mahto said talking to The Pioneer. The first battalion of the SAP has army personnel who have served the country for more than two decades.
The SAP has been divided into six companies of which five companies constitute of ex-armymen from Bihar Regiment and one has ex-armymen of Dogra Regiment.
The enthusiastic members of SAP seemed very eager to combat the Naxalities. “We do not have any claims about what we shall be doing, but
certainly with time people would see how we will drag the extremists out of their hidings and finish this problem from the state,” said Sawarjeet Singh, who hails from Punjab.
The ex-armymen have been given training of 24 different tasks that they would be performing during the operations. ‘We have been provided with SLRs, INSAS rifles, snipers, light machine guns and mortars. The equipments that have been provided to us in this short time period are not that sufficient. However, we shall be try to give maximum output with the provided weapons,” claimed Subedar Major AK Singh.
The old guns do feel that countering extremists would be a different job than countering the enemies on the border. “On the borders we know here stands the enemy who needs to be killed. But, here the extremist use guerrilla warfare and secondly it is hard to differentiate between the civilians and the extremists. The task is no doubt different but cannot be more difficult,” Harinder Tiwari, another armymen claimed.
Besides, the localities of Jharkhand have some other concerns too. “I hail from Simdegha. Now my company is moving to Palmu. I will no doubt work to my full efficiency, however, if sometime we will have to do operations in my home district it would be difficult for me,” claimed a jawan, on condition of anonymity.
Adding to the same thought Subedar Major Balwinder Singh added that the first motive of SAP is not just encounters. “We shall not be working on one point strategy of terminating the extremists. We shall try to council them and bring them back to the main stream, but if they would be adamant on their stand we would throw them out of the forests and would never be reluctant in doing encounters,” Singh added.
Meanwhile, Jharkhand DGP Vishnu Dayal Ram claimed that the state police have very high expectation from the SAP. “The formula has proved very successful in the neighbouring state of Bihar. The members of SAP are better trained and have fought battles. We hope that they would show some great work in the coming time,” Ram added.
Shishir Kumar
Ranchi
It was a time of rejuvenation for Subedar Major Ramotar Mahto and his 614 colleagues as they packed their bags to move to different naxal-infested areas of Jharkhand.
Mahto a retired soldier of Indian army is the member of the first battalion of the Special Auxiliary Police (SAP) constituted in the State. SAP, a venture of the State Police against extremism, is a new wing of the state police that constitutes of ex-armymen.
The battalion after a training of one and a half months moved to different naxal-infested districts of Jharkhand on Thursday. “I retired a couple of years back and was involved in petty businesses. However, as I was so much into the disciplined life of the army that being a civilian was not that easy. I was impatiently waiting for such an opportunity,” Mahto said talking to The Pioneer. The first battalion of the SAP has army personnel who have served the country for more than two decades.
The SAP has been divided into six companies of which five companies constitute of ex-armymen from Bihar Regiment and one has ex-armymen of Dogra Regiment.
The enthusiastic members of SAP seemed very eager to combat the Naxalities. “We do not have any claims about what we shall be doing, but
certainly with time people would see how we will drag the extremists out of their hidings and finish this problem from the state,” said Sawarjeet Singh, who hails from Punjab.
The ex-armymen have been given training of 24 different tasks that they would be performing during the operations. ‘We have been provided with SLRs, INSAS rifles, snipers, light machine guns and mortars. The equipments that have been provided to us in this short time period are not that sufficient. However, we shall be try to give maximum output with the provided weapons,” claimed Subedar Major AK Singh.
The old guns do feel that countering extremists would be a different job than countering the enemies on the border. “On the borders we know here stands the enemy who needs to be killed. But, here the extremist use guerrilla warfare and secondly it is hard to differentiate between the civilians and the extremists. The task is no doubt different but cannot be more difficult,” Harinder Tiwari, another armymen claimed.
Besides, the localities of Jharkhand have some other concerns too. “I hail from Simdegha. Now my company is moving to Palmu. I will no doubt work to my full efficiency, however, if sometime we will have to do operations in my home district it would be difficult for me,” claimed a jawan, on condition of anonymity.
Adding to the same thought Subedar Major Balwinder Singh added that the first motive of SAP is not just encounters. “We shall not be working on one point strategy of terminating the extremists. We shall try to council them and bring them back to the main stream, but if they would be adamant on their stand we would throw them out of the forests and would never be reluctant in doing encounters,” Singh added.
Meanwhile, Jharkhand DGP Vishnu Dayal Ram claimed that the state police have very high expectation from the SAP. “The formula has proved very successful in the neighbouring state of Bihar. The members of SAP are better trained and have fought battles. We hope that they would show some great work in the coming time,” Ram added.
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