Centre sends 2,000 paramilitary personnel to Chhattisgarh

The Centre has rushed 2,000 additional paramilitary force personnel to Chhattisgarh in the wake of the Naxal attack on Congress leaders that claimed 27 lives, including that of Pradesh Congress Committee chief Nand Kumar Patel.

The decision was taken following a request from the Chhattisgarh government, which sought more forces to provide security to political leaders and to engage in anti-Naxal operations, official sources said on Monday, adding that the units will be in the state in a day or two.

There are nearly 30,000 paramilitary personnel already deployed in Chhattisgarh, mainly for anti-Naxal operations across the state.

Chhattisgarh is one of the worst Maoist violence-affected states. Nearly 1,900 lives have been lost in the last eight years, of which nearly 570 were civilians, 700 were security personnel and the rest were Naxal cadres.

Heavily-armed Maoists had on Saturday ambushed a convoy of Congress leaders in the state's Bastar district, killing 27 people including Pradesh Congress Committee chief Patel, his son Dinesh, Congress leader Mahendra Karma and former Member of Legislative Assembly Uday Mudliyar, and injuring 32 others, including former Union minister V C Shukla.