The noted western aid organisation International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has suspended its all aid activities in insurgency- riddled Bijapur district following an order issued by the district authorities, a senior Government official said on Thursday.
The district collector of the Bijpaur, Mohammad Qaiser Abdul Haque, informed that Red Cross has been asked to suspend its all operations in the district as it has not signed any Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) with the State Government which is required for the Red Cross to extent aid in the area.
The ICRC was mainly providing healthcare facility to a massive poverty-hit tribal population since 2010 in Bijapur which is part of a sprawling 40,000 sq km Bastar region where Maoist militants runs a de facto government since late 1980s.
Top officials in Chhattisgarh Government have also confirmed that the Geneva-based ICRC was engaged in healthcare and other aid sector in Bijapur without keeping local authorities into confidence.
The Red Cross along with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) had first came under scanner of police authorities in Bastar region in early 2011 when these two aid agencies were warned against treating Maoists who are accused of carrying out deadly attacks on police, para-military and civilians.
Maoists have become more aggressive in recent months in Bastar region and late on last month the guerrillas carried out a deadly attack on a convoy of India’s ruling Congress party in which up to 30 persons were killed including former Union Minister VC Shukla, Chhattisgarh Congress Chief Nand Kumar Patel and Mahendra Karma, a noted tribal leader of Bastar who was credited for launch of a fierce anti-Maoist movement Salwa Judum in 2005 in Bijapur district.