Pillai to visit Chhattisgarh Monday

NEW DELHI - Union Home Secretary G.K. Pillai will visit Chhattisgarh Monday for a two-day trip to review the security situation in the state following the frequent Maoist attacks that have left nearly 150 people, mostly security personnel, dead in the last three months.

Some home ministry officials will accompany Pillai on the trip, during which he is likely to meet Chhattisgarh Governor Shekhar Dutt, Chief Minister Raman Singh and police and civil authorities to discuss the security situation and redeployment of paramilitary forces, sources said.

The visit comes days after Home Minister P. Chidambaram asked the state government to “revisit some of the deployment” of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in view of the repeated Maoist attacks, including the ambush last Tuesday in Narayanpur in which 27 security men were killed.

Pillai is expected to fine-tune the plan on redeployment, according to a source, who added that the CRPF will be installing more posts to reduce the distance between the camps.

The number of personnel in some posts would be increased and personnel from some others relocated, the source said.

Pillai and his team are also scheduled to visit some Maoist-affected areas in the state to check on the development work.