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PATNA: The Left-wing extremist (LWE) activities are on the wane in Bihar .

Official data revealed that altogether 27 Maoist-related incidents have been reported in the state since January this year. Of them, 10 were related to encounters with the security forces in which a CoBRA battalion jawan and nine Maoists had been killed.

In 2018, altogether 40 LWE incidents were recorded in the state against 100 in 2016 and 71 in 2017. What is important is that the activities of the banned CPI(Maoist) have more or less been confined to Gaya, Aurangabad, Jamui and Lakhisarai districts.

Three Maoists were killed during police operation in Gaya district in July this year. One active member of the banned outfit each was killed in Gaya and Muzaffarpur in May and June this year, respectively. Nine Maoists have been gunned down in police operations till August 15 this year, an SP rank officer said.

The police have seized 45 weapons belonging to the banned outfit since January. The weapons include AK-47 and INSAS rifles looted from the security forces. A huge quantity of explosives was also recovered during the operations.

Recently, the security forces had zeroed in on Pradumna Sharma, a top-rank Maoist leader operating in Magadh region comprising Nawada and Nalanda districts in Bihar besides in bordering areas of Jharkhand. Sharma is on the run ever since the security forces carried out raids on his suspected hideouts recently.

The police officials attributed the success to new strategy chalked out by the top officers. “Now, we conduct raids on specific intelligence inputs. We have better technical support as well,” IG (operations) S M Khopde said before leaving for Delhi to attend a meeting on LWE on Monday.

He also attributed the sharp fall in LWE activities in the state to better coordination among different security agencies. The special task force (STF) of the state police has been strengthened to take on the Maoists, whose fiefdom is on the radar of the security forces.

Another police officer said, “It’s now two-way policy on LWE in Bihar. There is intensive combing operation in Maoist infested districts on the one hand and development works being carried out in those areas on the other. It’s paying rich dividends.”

Meanwhile, the state police headquarters has emphasized on the state’s surrender and rehabilitation policy for Maoists.

Authoritative sources said in 2010, 32 out of 38 districts in the state were LWE affected. Now, the number has come down to 20. While four have been declared worst LWE affected districts, the remaining 16 come under the category of security related expenditure (SRE).

Earlier, 22 districts in the state were under SRE. But with six districts of Patna, Bhojpur, Sheohar, Sitamarhi, Begusarai and Khagaria excluded from the list, only 16 remained under SRE, a senior official associated with Maoist operations said.

Under SRE scheme, expenses incurred on deployment of the security forces in Maoist infested districts are reimbursed by the central government.

