Senior police officials of Odisha and their counterparts of five neighbouring States deliberated on the security measures for the general elections at an Inter-State Coordination meeting here on Friday.
Speaking to the media about the meet, Odisha Home Secretary Asit Kumar Tripathi said, “We have good cooperation with neighbouring States and it has led to curbing leftwing extremism (LWE). Such meetings are necessary before elections. When the Election Commission of India (ECI) visited the State, they had also sought inter-State police cooperation.”
Intelligence sharing among the States and security measures in Maoist-hit areas were among the major topics discussed at the meet.
Odisha DGP Dr RP Sharma said, “We already have a mechanism of intelligence sharing and joint operations. We have to work more for joint operations. Specially, in Andhra Pradesh -Odisha border and our border with Chhattisgarh, there are certain areas where there is a security vacuum. We have to concentrate on those areas.”
Odisha and its neighbouring States to some extent are facing LWE menace. Therefore, we need to be alert ahead of elections and have better coordination in sharing of intelligence inputs, says DGP RP Sharma .
“Almost all the neighbouring States, to some extent or other, are grappling with LWE. Year 2018 has been a relatively successful year for almost all the States including Odisha in curbing Maoist menace. During elections, the Maoists step up their activities and they have already given an election boycott call. We have to be totally alert,” Sharma added.