The district police tightened vigil along all the forest routes, including ferry points in Bhadrachalam Agency, in the wake of the major ambush by Maoists on security forces that left at least 22 security personnel dead in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Saturday.
The incident, considered as one of the worst Maoist attacks in their strongholds in the neighbouring State, spurred additional surveillance measures in the forested border region of Bhadrachalam Agency.
Vigil has been mounted along all the forest routes leading to Chhattisgarh’s south Bastar division in Charla and Dummugudem mandals, which share a porous border with Bijapur and Sukma districts, sources said.
The ferry points across the Godavari and other forest streams have been brought under enhanced surveillance to keep tabs on the movement of rebels along the volatile inter-State border with Chhattisgarh.
The local police in coordination with the CRPF personnel intensified joint combing operations in the forest fringe areas situated in close proximity to the border.
It may be mentioned that the Charla police during a joint combing operation unearthed and defused a pressure cooker bomb at Rallapuram forest area in the mandal on Thursday.
The joint squad also arrested a Maoist militia member and seized a pressure cooker bomb from his possession at a stream crossing point near Rallapuram the same day. The police stepped up investigation into the case.
