Raipur: Ten tribal youths from a remote village in Chhattisgarh have cracked the SSC and state police constable examination after receiving two years of coaching from the troops of an Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) battalion engaged in anti-Naxal operations.
The success story has emerged from the Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki district located in the south-western part of the state bordering Maharashtra, officials told PTI.
The region is affected by Naxal violence and adjoins the Left Wing Extremism-hit Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra and the Rajnandgaon, Bastar and Kanker districts in Chhattisgarh.
About two years ago, the company operating base (COB) of the 27th ITBP battalion located in Aundhi village, around 200 km from the capital Raipur, engaged a group of local tribal youth, launching career counselling and physical training sessions for them.
The youngsters, in the age group of 23-25 years, showed excellent determination, worked hard with the ITBP instructors and recently cleared the written and physical test conducted by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) and Chhattisgarh state for recruitment as police constables, a senior officer said.
The publication of the final merit list is awaited, he added.
Commanding Officer of the 27th ITBP battalion Vivek Kumar Pandey and district Superintendent of Police Y P Singh honoured the achievers during a public event in Aundhi on Saturday.
"This achievement of the local tribal youth signifies a critical shift in the mindset of the region that is trying to come out from the grip of the LWE menace as the government has declared to end Maoism from the country by March 2026," the officer said.
Apart from the guidance, the ITBP personnel provided study material, financial support and other logistics to help the students succeed -- assistance for which the youngsters expressed deep gratitude.
"The ITBP personnel held our hands and guided us to this success. They supported us with study material, money and logistics to help us find our place in society and serve the nation," Nayan Kumar Bansode, one of the successful candidates, said during the event.
This region has seen major LWE violence in the past, including the July 2009 Naxal ambush in which the then SP V K Chaubey and 28 other police personnel were killed.
The ITBP, with the assistance of the local police, has neutralised top Naxal commanders operating in this district, including the major August encounter of senior Naxal leaders Vijay Reddy and Lokesh Salame, apart from apprehension and surrender of several other cadres.
The border force, primarily tasked to guard the 3,488-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, has been deployed in this region since 2009.
It also launched a first-ever veterinary field hospital apart from one for the locals, benefiting about 5,000 villagers over the last two years, officials said.
(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
