Two vacated BSF camps become school, hostel in Chhattisgarh's Kanker; move draws praise

Kanker: Two Border Security Force (BSF) camps have now turned into a school and hostel facility for children after the paramilitary force vacated them in Chhattisgarh's Naxalite-hit Kanker district, officials said on Sunday.

The BSF, which is extensively deployed in the district to curb Left Wing Extremism, vacated two camps, also called company operating bases, in Bondanar and Kadhai Khodra villages in Antagarh area and relocated to the interiors, they added.

"The BSF shifted its Bondanar COB to Padar village in Rowghat area (Kankeer) and the one at Kadhai Khodra to adjoining forests in neighbouring Narayanpur district, advancing further into core areas of Maoists," an official said.

The Bodanar COB was established in 2010 and shifted in February last year, while the one at Kadhai Khodra, which was set up in 2015, was shifted in February this year, he said.

"Of the two vacated camps, one in Kadhai Khodra village is being used as a government high school from the ongoing academic session, while another has been made into a pre-matric hostel for boys since last year. Kadhai Khodra school has 33 students, including 16 girls, studying in class IX and X. A total of 75 boys from class 6th to 12th are residing in Bondanar hostel," Additional Collector (Antagarh) BS Uike said on Sunday.

The government has already been using pre-fabricated structures for schools at various places in all districts of Bastar region, and these BSF camps, with pre-fabricated structures, were ideal for use as education facilities, he added.

Children have all the facilities in both the camps including playground, potable drinking water, washrooms for males and females, Uike informed.

Additional Superintendent of Police (Antagarh) Jaiprakash Barhai said relocation of two COBs was a result of security personnel consolidating their hold in areas around existing installations and facilitating development works by pushing Naxalites on the backfoot.

"Gradually, more camps will be relocated to interior pockets to win the war against Left Wing Extremism. It is good the civic administration is using vacated camps for different purposes, particularly education. One more vacated camp is being planned for use as a power substation," Barhai said.

"It is a good move as earlier when BSF was deployed for anti-Naxal operations in 2009-10 in Kanker, government schools were used as their temporary camps. This attracted criticism since the building became Maoist targets," said Professor Girishkant Pandey, Head, Department of Defence Studies at Government NPG College of Science Raipur.

Using vacated camps as educational facilities will help in winning confidence of local tribals as it would connect children to security personnel, he said, adding more such infrastructures can be used as schools, public distribution shops, power supply and mobile tower stations.