Cops to deploy 300 SATs at extremist-affected areas

RANCHI: Jharkhand Police on Wednesday said they will train 300 additional small action teams (SAT) and deploy them at police stations located in sensitive areas of the state ahead of the elections. All police stations located at the extremist-sensitive areas would have a specialized squad to undertake rapid action following intelligence inputs.

Notably, the SATs are being trained at the four counter-insurgency and anti-terrorist schools (CIAT) being run at Padma, Netarhat, Musabani and Tendar gram. So far, CIAT has already trained 174 SATs in the state. The SAT comprises 20 personnel who undergo an eight-week rigorous training in various fighting skills, including firing, slithering, wall-climbing and jungle warfare. They are also equipped with modern equipment, including mortar, light machine gun and AK-47 rifle.

Colonel (retd) Khalid Khan, state coordinator of the CIAT schools, said, “We make them fire at targets continuously during training. The course is hard and the jawans become fit for a battle and gain the willingness to fight then.” It may be stated here that the training schedule is prepared according to recommendations from the Bureau of Police Reform and Development.

Khunti superintendent of police Alok said, “SATs have enabled officers to take immediate action against the extremists after receiving information. In Khunti, we have posted them not only at the police stations but also at other strategic locations.”

Palamu SP Indrajit Mahtha said, “We have provided bikes to the SATs for quick operations. SATs of two or three police stations combined become a very strong formation to carry out anti-extremist operations, including area domination exercise in a region. Extremism has weakened considerably in areas were SAT had been deployed.”