Security forces continue to reside in appalling conditions in Dantewada - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Even as questions are being raised over the circumstances that led to the Maoist ambush on the Security personnel, security forces continue to live in difficult conditions. At the Chintagupha police compound in Dantewada, the security personnel have to make to with hand-pumps. They have to fill up water-buckets for their daily needs. The security personnel have to stay in thatched huts , said Prakash Bodliyar , a CRPF Assistant Commandant. On Tuesday (April 06), Maoist fighters, armed with sophisticated weapons, ambushed 81 CRPF members in a forested area of Dantewada district, killing 76 police personnel. Opposition parties have criticised the central and State Governments for failing to tackle the Maoist problem , saying it exposed a lack of intelligence and planning. The policemen killed, it has been pointed out, were not trained in jungle warfare before their deployment. The incident has highlighted the need for providing training and equipping the police force with the basics required for functioning in thickly forested terrain of Maoist-infested areas.