RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, Jan.23: A day after Republic Day, Chief Minister Hemant Soren will visit Budha Pahad, a Maoist den recently liberated by the security personnel from extremists. If the programme materializes, Soren will be the first chief minister of the state to reach the area.
The CM will reach Budha Pahar by a chopper and will stay there for several hours. During this, the CM will collect first hand information regarding villagers’ problems and make several announcements regarding their solution. Those expected to accompany the chief minister include Chief Secretary of the state and DGP besides others.
Budha Pahar is spread over 55 square kilometers. It remained in the control of Maoists for 32 years. It was the command centre of Maoists. The area surrounded by forests of Jharkhand-Chhattisgarh had become an impregnable fort of Naxalites. All types of IEDs from command wire to pressure mechanism were planted there. It was here that Maoists’ literature, training and propaganda materials were prepared.
In 2013-14, the Maoists had made Budha Pahad their unified command. The Maoists used to conduct all their activities from here and carried out incidents in Bihar, Jharkhand and North Chhattisgarh. The Maoists had made an impregnable fort from Budha Pahad.
Since 2013-14, about a dozen soldiers have been martyred in the Budha Pahar campaign, while more than one and a half dozen have been injured.There have also been encounters between security forces and Maoists more than three dozen times in the Budha Pahad area.
Under the leadership of Dev Kumar Singh alias Arvind, who was a member of the Politburo of the Maoists, the Maoists had made Budha pahad a hideout.Arvind died in 2018. After Arvind’s death, Sudhakaran took over the command of Buddha Pahad. In 2019-20, Sudhakaran along with his team surrendered in Telangana. Later, Mithilesh Mehta got the command of Budhapahar. Mithilesh Mehta was arrested in 2022.
The command of Budha Pahad is currently with Sourav alias Markus Baba.Launching an operation in August 2022, security personnel liberated the area from extremist influence. Today there is a camp of security forces there. The security forces have set up about half a dozen of their camps at Budha Pahad. Cobra, CRPF, Jaguar personnel have been deployed in these camps. So far, security forces have recovered more than 2500 landmines from the area and demolished more than half a dozen bunkers.
