The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has deployed as many as 75 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) for the conduct of the General Parliamentary and Assembly elections in Odisha. These include 35 companies of CRPF, 30 companies of BSF and 5 companies of CISF.
Dr Archana Shivhare, CRPF IGP, Odisha Sector has been made the state force coordinator in the state. At a presser, Shivhare informed that at present the 75 CAPF companies have been deployed in Odisha for area domination, patrolling and checking.
“In Odisha, usually the central paramilitary forces are deployed in anti-naxal operations. Keeping in view the pre-poll phase and ensuring that people exercise their franchise without any fear, the Election Commission has provided 75 companies of CAPFs,” said Shivhare.
According to the senior CRPF official, already the deployments have been done in sensitive and hyper-sensitive districts. The companies have been deployed for area domination, patrolling, flag marches, anti-naxal operations and other regular checking drives.
It is pertinent to mention here that CRPF was first sent to Odisha to control left-wing extremism in the year 2001. In the year 2023, CRPF set up four new camps in forest areas to eradicate naxalism from remote interior areas. CRPF’s special commando unit ‘CoBRA’ has also been deployed in these camps to curb naxal activities in the state.