A total of 38 officers and troopers of the Border Security Force (BSF) have attained martyrdom while fighting ultras in Odisha and Chhattisgarh in over the last ten years, a senior BSF officer said on Monday.
Addressing newsmen in Raipur, BSF Additional Director General (ADG), Chhattisgarh-Odisha, Rajwinder Singh Bhatti said the 38 BSF officers and jawans have made the supreme sacrifice while fighting Naxals in both the states in over the last decade.
On the other hand, the force have killed 18 insurgents and arrested nearly 1,650 cadres in the two states during the period and recovered 1,473 weapons, 958 IEDs and 3,176 kg of explosives, Bhatti said, adding that 15 weapons and 54 IEDs were recovered only last year.
At least 14 insurgents surrendered or were arrested by the force in the last one year in Chhattisgarh and Odisha, he added.
The BSF is presently deployed in insurgency-hit Malkangiri and Koraput districts of Odisha and Kanker, Narayanpur and Kondagoan districts in the neighbouring state.
"Starting with 41 Company Operating Bases (COBs)/posts in both the states in 2009-10, the BSF has now expanded to 108 COBs/posts in the interior areas of these two states," the ADG said.
In the last two years, eight COBs have been set up in Chhattisgarh and six in Odisha, he added.
The BSF has supported the installation of 91 mobile phone towers in Chhattisgarh's Kanker and Narayanpur districts, the ADG said.