Down the Memory Lane.....


Khammam was one of the largest district of Andhra Pradesh and had 52 police stations. It bordered Warangal, Krishna, East Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh, Bastar District of Madhya Pradesh (now in Chhattisgarh) and Koraput District of Orissa. It was a Naxalite affected area as large part of the district was thickly forested and the large population being tribal, it provided good shelter and fertile ground for their activities.

The district administration could hardly reached the tribal population and they were dependent on Naxalites for their protection from the exploitation of local businessmen who made money on forest produce and forest timber.

Fortunately, for me, three young IPS officers were posted in two subdivisions of Khammam i.e. Kothagudam and Bhadrachalam and one in headquarters.

I started moving in areas, which were hitherto not frequented by police officers. I put special emphasis on understanding the problems faced by tribal population and ensured that their complaints were promptly attended to.

This has its affect and tribal population started approaching police with their difficulties. Though I must say, the number of such instances was not to our satisfaction and we needed to do lot more to win their trust. But a beginning was definitely made.

The district administration, under Collector Sri Rajan Habib Khawaja has extended all the help they could. The police and revenue department worked as a team. Number of absconding and underground Naxalite leaders who were accused of serious offences including killing of people were arrested and dealt strictly as per law.

Some seniors did not endorse their being dealt in this fashion. I told them in strict terms that they should not expect anything, that was not within the legal framework. I had to listen to some unpleasant remarks but did not deter me to choose any other path.

To be continued.......