Chidambaram denies having any Operation called Green Hunt

     Raipur, January 22, 2010: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today said there was no such operation called Green Hunt carried out to combat naxalism.

     “Don’t exaggerate the phrase Operation Green Hunt. A police officer of Chhattisgarh for the sake of convenient used that phrase. It does not apply to any thing we are doing so there is no such operation Green Hunt,” Chidambaram said.

     “Rather, a coordinated operation has been started only a few weeks ago and its progress is satisfactory and this year even the progress will be more satisfactory,” said the Minister after meeting the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh and Orissa Dr Raman Singh and Naveen Patnaik respective along with Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil on the issue of security and anti-naxal operation.

     For that coordinated operation the Indian Government was offering troops, technology and other assistance to the states to continue their operation against the naxalites, who are a banned organisation, to re-gain control over the areas so that development could take places, Chidambaram said.

     Elaborating on this operation, he said the whole purpose of this operation was development. That was the reason why he was discussing with the Chief Ministers of various states here in the capital city of Chhattisgarh, which has the highest number of naxal violence.

     The main purpose of this operation was not only to drive away the naxalites but also to bring development to the area and therefore the first step was to get control of the area and the development will follow, he said.

     Dismissing reports about the possibility of a large scale killing or collateral damage in case of an armed operation against the Maoists, Chidambaram said, it was not the goal of the Government to engage in any battle or kill any one indiscriminately.

     This policy worked well and that would be continued as three states, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Orissa today agreed to coordinate their action and continue to coordinate their action and he hoped to get rid of the naxals in the meeting, the Union minister said.

     On 28^th of this month, the new Chief Minister of Jharkhand Shibu Soren and his officials would be meeting him at the national capital to discuss about the anti-naxal operation in that state, he said.