Director General of Police Sunil Kumar Bansal paid a visit to Nuapada on Sunday to take stock of the preparedness for the upcoming Panchayat polls and review the Maoist situation in the district.
This was Bansal’s first visit to a Maoist-affected district in the State since taking over as DGP. He was accompanied by senior officials from the State police headquarters including Intelligence Director Lalit Das, IG Operations Amitabh Thakur, DIG Anirudha Singh and Nuapada SP Pratyush Diwaker.
Bansal held a meeting with other top police officials to discuss the preparedness of the upcoming polls and the Maoist situation in the district. He also congratulated Odisha Police for their successful operations against the left-wing extremists at Sunabedha sanctuary along the Odisha-Chhattisgarh border.
The top police official visited Kalahandi after the completion of the meeting at Nuapada. Later, talking to media persons, Bansal said, “Adequate police and security personnel will be provided to the district to conduct the forthcoming Panchayat polls smoothly… combing operations against the Maoists will be intensified ahead of the polls”.
While briefing the media, after attending a virtual meet chaired by State Election Commissioner Aditya Prasad Padhi, the DGP informed that they had a meeting under the chairmanship of the State Election Commissioner yesterday. “Discussions were held regarding how to enforce the law and order and the Model Code of Conduct. All SPs and District Collectors were present in the meeting. We took their viewpoints and discussed the practical difficulties likely to be faced while enforcing the law and order and the Model Code of Conduct,” he said.