For the first time in counter-Maoist operations in India, Indian Air Force (IAF) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) will be used to track down the guerrilla hideouts and to monitor their movements, sources said on Tuesday.
'We received a request from the home ministry and given the gravity of the situation, have acceded to it,' the sources said.
'The advantage of the UAV is that it not only maps the terrain but also pick up radio transmissions. It thus serves a double purpose,' they sources.
'The modalities of its operations are being worked out. The operational command of the UAV will be with the IAF and it will be deployed as per the requirements of the state government,' the sources said.
'We have yet to decide where to station the UAV.'
With this, Chhattisgarh becomes the second state after Andhra Pradesh to get air cover in the battle against the Maoists. The central government had last month agreed to the Andhra Pradesh government's request for a helicopter, with the provisio it would only be used for logistical and not offensive operations against the ultras.
Chhattisgarh is one of the worst affected by the Maoist menace among 13 states in India.
In a gruesome attack July 17, over 600 Maoists surrounded a peace camp in violence-racked Dantewada district, 510 km south of capital Raipur between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. and opened indiscriminate fire killing 37 people.
The victims were members of the government-sponsored anti-Maoist civil militia Salwa Judum (Campaign for Peace).
Human rights groups say the government was endangering the lives of civilians and special police officers (SPOs) by sponsoring the Salwa Judum and putting them in the line of fire.
Nearly 50,000 tribals have deserted their forest villages in the state after the government launched the Salwa Judum in June 2005.
More than 200 civilians, mostly Salwa Judum activists, have been killed in Maoist violence this year.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday appealed to the Maoist rebels to abstain from violence, saying that power would 'never flow from the barrel of a gun'.
Addressing the nation from the ramparts of Red Fort on the 59th independence anniversary, the prime minister also declared that security forces would respond adequately if violence escalated.
'I want those who have mistakenly taken to Naxalism to understand that in democratic India, power will never flow from the barrel of a gun. Real power flows from the ballot box.'
Manmohan Singh also urged Maoist-affected states to pay special attention to the welfare of tribals and marginal farmers as it was this impoverished section that was being exploited.