State Police will soon approach Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) with a request to curb on open sale of walkie-talkies in market which are used by the Maoists for their internal communication and to pass on information about the movement of security forces during anti-Naxal operations. Remarkably, walkie-talkies are the most common article which is recovered from Maoist camps during anti-Naxal Operation in the State.
“Though, restricted spectrum is used by the Government agencies for communication purposes, but free to air spectrum is also there which is widely used by the common people and by the Maoists also for their internal communication. Besides private sector companies and security agencies, Maoists are the largest consumers of those free air sets, easily available in the market, which is used for their internal communication for movement and also to warn each other about Police activity during anti-Naxal operations,” said ADG Operations and Jharkhand Police Spokesperson RK Mallick.There are several occasions they have managed to dodge the security forces with the help of inputs provided to them through walkie-talkies used by them, he added.
“Since there is no restriction on use of free to air spectrum by the common people, therefore extensive discussions are on to check it’s use,” said the Spokesperson. If required, Union Ministry of Home Affairs will also be approached requesting it to restrict the sale of free to air walkie-talkie in the open market as it being widely used by the Maoists, added the ADG.
Bokaro DIG Prabhat Kumar also asserted that free to air walkie-talkies used by the Maoists has proved damaging for the security forces at several occasions and hence the Government must try to put a curb on it.“It is very frequently used by the Maoists, and has proved to be fatal for the security forces at several occasions therefore something needs to be done in this regard,” said Kumar. Being the most reliable source of communication in jungles and remote areas, walkie-talkie is recovered almost every time when a training camp is busted and during encounter with Maoists in the jungles, he added.
Giridih SP Surendra Kumar Jha also said that since they get prior information about police movement and the route taken by it in the jungles by using these sets, security forces becomes more vulnerable to ambush laid by them hence steps must be taken restrict its use by the common people.