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Updated: Oct 01, 2019 16:49 IST

A document recovered from an encounter spot on the border of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh suggest that Maoists have declared a new division comprising Kanha national park and Bhoramdeo wildlife sanctuary and named it as ‘KB’.

Kanha national park comes under Mandala and Balaghat districts of Madhya Pradesh while Bhoramdeo comes under Kawardha district of Chhattisgarh. Police believe that because of the dense forest and tough terrain the Maoists have declared this area as a division.

‘KB’ is now the second division under newly formed MMC zone (Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh), the first being GRB (Gondia, Rajanandgaon Balaghat).

The MMC zone was created by Maoists in 2016-17. It includes districts situated at the tri-junction of three states and has seen the presence of Vistaar Dalam, which has around 200 armed cadre in its ranks. The MMC is presently headed by a central committee member of CPI (Maoist) Deepak Teltumbde.

The document was among Maoist literature found at a spot where 46-year-old Maoist Jamuna alias Sagan Bai was killed in an encounter in February 28 this year. Jamuna was allegedly involved in 1999 in the killing of Likhiram Kavre, a minister in the then Madhya Pradesh government. Jamuna carried an award of Rs 20 lakh on her head.

Maoist leaders have been directed to focus on the ‘KB’ division and two area committees have been created under the new division, document said. It also showed that “displacement” and “bamboo rates” are the key issues of the division and Maoists have already started recruiting locals.

Sunderraj P, DIG of anti-naxal operations, said security forces are now focusing on the Kanha-Boramdeo area and expect “positive results” in the next few months.

The DIG said due to operations in the Bastar region, Maoists are now moving towards MMC zone. “We have opened more than a dozen camps in MMC zone in the last couple of years to intensify operations,” the DIG added.

People closely watching the spread of Maoist activity in Chhattisgarh believe that winning the hearts of the people of the area can help contain it.

“Security forces should run grievance redressal cells by employing their retired personnel. These areas are still relatively new, though Maoists were trying to spread their influence here for decades. Security forces should arrive a new avatar else highhandedness will push people towards Maoists,” said writer Shubhranshu Chaudhary.

Intelligence officers posted in Chhattisgarh said that the new division is a cause of concern because Maoists usually send cadres to new areas to spread their ideology. “They try to develop a network so that they could get information about movement of security forces,” said an intelligence officer.