IAF flies double sorties in Chhattisgarh Red zone

SOURCE: TNN

The Indian Air Force flew choppers in buddy pairs over Maoist strongholds in Chhattisgarh in the first week of April as extra precaution in the run-up to the third anniversary of the Tadmetla massacre where the rebels killed 76 CRPF men in 2010. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are also being used to sanitize routes of choppers.

During double sorties, while one IAF chopper descends the other hovers above to provide aerial security cover, said a source. Each MI-17 chopper carries a light machine gun (LMG), besides other weapons, and Garud commandos.

The CRPF, nodal agency in anti-Maoist operations, throw a security cordon over the helipad during ascent and descent of choppers in Maoist bastions. The IAF commandos guard the chopper and man the LMG on board after descent.

The IAF and BSF choppers are primarily used to provide logistic support — carry men and provisions in inaccessible areas as well as those injured in encounters with Maoists.

IAF has allotted the CRPF 80 hours a month for sorties. The security forces were apprehensive that double sorties would gobble up the flying hours. However, the IAF has decided to count flying hours of one chopper in case there is a need for a double sortie.

The IAF is more careful after the January 18 incident when six of its men abandoned an injured Chhattisgarh policeman and rushed for safety after their chopper crash landed at Timilwada in south Chhattisgarh. The IAF men also left behind a light machine gun and a pistol after Maoists fired 19 bullets at the chopper.

Recently, there were inputs from Kishtaram and Bheji in south Chhattisgarh’s Konta that Maoist squads could do replays of Timilwada and attack chopper flying above their bastions, said a state police officer.

Chhattisgarh Police and the CRPF beefed up security manifold to sanitize the areas before chopper landings. After the January 18 incident, the IAF, too, has been insisting on sanitization of sorties routes in Maoist strongholds using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) before its choppers fly out on air support missions.

“We have been using UAVs for sanitizing areas wherever possible,” said a senior police officer.

The Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign (TCOC) of the Maoist have also begun. Maoists conduct TCOC, or ‘escalation of violence’, twice a year — once in April-May, and then in December-January. During these periods, there is an increase in violence in Maoist zones across the country.

A workshop was also held to sensitize personnel of all security forces, including state police, CRPF and IAF, involved in anti-Maoist operations in Chhattisgarh about threat perception.