Visakhapatnam:The superintendent of police (SP) of Visakhapatnam Rural, Babujee Attada said on Tuesday that over 50% of the 150 top cadre among Maoists comprise women .

This is after the Maoists have moved further underground in the Visakhapatnam Agency area and the government has equipped the police with latest weapons to deal with Maoists, he added.

“The Maoists are finding it easier to recruit women than men, and are giving them more responsibiliy,” Attada, who was appointed SP in November last year, told TOI.

According to Attada, who commands a force of 4,000 policemensaid that the Maoists were losing their connection with the tribals because they were trying to put obstacles in the development of the Agency area.

“The tribal people are realising that Maoists are hindering the development process as Maoists tried to torch road-laying machinery and destroyed a mobile cell tower,” he said.

The police department is setting up towers in police outposts to prevent damage to cell towers which provide wireless connectivity in remote areas of the region.

The Rural SP further said that as the Maoists were losing ground in the Agency area, they were trying to find support from the bordering state of Chhattisgarh.

Attada claimed that the Maoists were losing support in the Agency area because local youth now had aspirations like getting a mobile phone and a job.

Attada also denied the charges being made by human rights groups claiming that the police indulged in brutality when engaging with tribal people. “They (the human rights groups) have their own perspective. We are pro-tribal and pro-poor. There is no need for us to be brutal. We will be heavy-handed when we deal with criminals,” he said.

