CHATTISGARH: The 165 Battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Chhattisgarh police have set up a Forward Operating Base (FOB) at Bedre in Sukma district, a highly Maoist-affected area of the state, after 17 years, said a CRPF official on Thursday.
The FOB has been created at Bedre in the Sukma district of Bastar region which lies on the southernmost tip of the central Indian state, along the tri-junction of Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Odisha borders.
While the FOB will effectively help in reviving the old trade route connecting the Tamarind market Jagargunda with the nearby districts of Bijapur and Dantewada, it will also block the transit corridor that Naxals used for movement between west Bastar and South Bastar. Additionally, it will also pave way for development activities by allaying the fear of the Maoists.
According to information, till the emergence of the Maoist threat in 2006, the trade of tamarind and forest produce from Jagargunda – the prominent tamarind market of India and other forest produce was done through this route.
The CRPF said that with this camp, the administration would be able to decisively restore the trade route and pave the way for the economic development of the area.
Over the past three years 14-15 FOBs have been established in CG. The latest one is in a remote area 400 km from Raipur.
The FOBs house a small but strong and armed contingent of CRPF personnel who work to cut the supply chain of Maoists in remote and hardcore extremism-affected areas by not only undertaking quality operations but also by interacting with civilians, officials have said in the past.