One after another incidents of purported Maoists pasting provocative posters in the revenue area- Dhaulichheena, lod, Someshwar, Petshal and Binta at Kama near Bagwalipokhar under Dwarahat and Bausiyachhana blocks of Almora and Bageshwar districts over the past few months- have raised serious questions over the ability of the district administrations to appropriately deal with the left extremist menace surfacing at regular intervals.
Doubtless, the Revenue areas of these districts have become the soft targets for the purported Maoists as the latter are well aware of the fact that the revenue police are ill-prepared to take them on. It is known to all that they are crippled as they lack the required infrastructure and the manpower to confront the extremists head-on. More intriguingly, the proposals sent by the police to the administration, asking for replacing revenue police with regular police in the sensitive areas of the districts have been gathering dust in the state administrative headquarters. Soon after assuming charge, chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had said that Maoist menace being in its nascent stage should be nipped in the bud to stop them from spreading wings. It seems that even the CM’s exhortation has failed to arouse the administration from the ‘sweet slumber’ they are in, say the observers.
A police officer said that they are worried over the possibility of a section of the people tacitly supporting the Maoists at Someshwear and Jageshwar and other revenue areas under Almora and Bageshwar districts. “True to their style, they exhorted the people to eliminate those selling booze in the hills through the posters they pasted a couple of months back. We are convinced that there exists at least an emotional link between the Maoists and the local populace on the emotive issue of booze ban,” he added while insisting on anonymity.
Notably, the State Government had announced bounty of Rs 50,000 on information leading to the arrests of the two Maoists identified as Keem Singh Bora and Devendra Chamyal, both residents of Almora, who have been on the run for the past many years. Police had registered a case under sections 121,121a, 124, 24a, 120b and 153b of IPC against Bora and Chamyal in Nanakmattta police station based in Udham Singh Nagar. However, the duo is still at large with the administration stumbling in the darkness over their whereabouts.