June 18, 2017
With only a year-and-a-half left for Madhya Pradesh to go to polls, the Maoists are slowly strengthening their presence in Balaghat district, one of their main areas of operation.
The recent intelligence input of a ‘Vistaar’ platoon of Maoists operating in the area, discovery of raw materials for making Improvised Explosive Devise (IED) in Langi district by a police patrol and arrest of two sympathisers made the security agencies go on high alert.
The job of the Vistaar platoons is to scour the area to find the area for operation.
“It is in the nature of the Maoist movement that they will try and expand their base for which they have long-term planning and Vistaar platoons are part of the strategy team, though of course there is no guarantee that armed action will follow,” says Maoist expert and journalist Ruchir Garg, who is based in Raipur, Chhattisgarh.
Source: Hindustan Times.