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Raipur: Deep in the dense forests of Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district, a hidden Naxalite arms factory lies in ruins today, its machinery destroyed and its stock confiscated in a swift raid by the District Reserve Guard (DRG).
Acting on precise intelligence, the DRG team penetrated into the bushes near the Koimenta-Erapalli belt and unearthed a full-scale armament unit which the Maoists had manned for months in anticipation of a new wave of attacks.
What the soldiers found was no makeshift shed but a hidden workshop buzzing under solar panels. Seventeen native-made rifles, each capable of continuous fire, were laid half-loaded next to barrel-grenade launchers designed to destroy patrols.
Piles of steel rods, trigger mechanisms, lathe machines, drilling bits and welding kits filled the cavernous hideout, while boxes of gelatin sticks, detonators and circuit boards waited to be made into bombs by the roadside.
Sukma Superintendent of Police (SP) Kiran Chavan later told reporters that the surrendered cadres had given information about the location weeks ago, which is proof that fear is now spreading faster than ideology among the Maoists.
This year, 249 Naxalites have been killed in encounters across Bastar, among them the movement’s general secretary Nambala Keshav Rao. An officer roaming the site reported that the air was filled with the smell of gun oil and fresh metal shavings.
Blueprints pinned to the bark show plans for rifles that could match the accuracy of those issued by the army, a desperate attempt to replace the hundreds of weapons lost in encounters this year.
With winter over and local elections approaching, the factory was the rebels’ lifeline; Its destruction has cleared that line. Before evening the entire complex was razed to the ground, flames reaching the treetops as the explosives were safely detonated.
Each soldier returned to Mataguda camp without a scratch, their radios playing with quiet triumph.
Two hundred and twenty of these deaths occurred in the same seven districts of Sukma, which had once turned impenetrable forests into hunting grounds for security forces. Villagers who once paid levies now watch with folded hands as DRG troops pass by, feeling down the shrinking red corridor of what was once a burnt-out workshop.
The loss for the Maoists is more than just metal and powder; This is the collapse of the dream of fighting another season. For the forces, it is another dawn patrol set deep in the green hell, chasing the next hidden spark before it ignites.
“It couldn’t have been a worse time for him,” the SP said. “This year alone 249 Naxalites have been killed across the state – including top CPI (Maoist) general secretary Nambala Keshav Rao – this factory was their desperate attempt to return. We ensured it became their graveyard.”
–IANS