CRPF created 229 advance security posts in Naxalite affected states in six years (Photo-X)
ANI, New Delhi. All central armed police forces, including the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and its special units, are now engaged in a decisive offensive with the aim of rooting out Maoism by March next year.
As part of its strategy to dominate Maoism, the central government has set a deadline of March 2026 to eliminate this menace.
Under this, CRPF, one of the major forces formed to counter leftist extremism, has established a total of 229 Forward Operating Bases (FOB - Forward Security Post) in six major Maoist-affected states since 2019.
FOBs have been an important component in the government's security strategy to counter Left Wing Extremism in the affected areas. They are established by the Central Armed Police Forces, including the CRPF and its special units.
These FOBs are located in remote, forest areas and insurgency-prone areas, which were earlier considered to be strongholds of Maoist organisations. Of the total 229 FOBs, 59 have been set up so far this year, while 40 have been set up in 2024, 27 in 2023, 48 in 2022, 29 in 2021, 18 in 2020 and eight in 2019. These FOBs have been established in Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Telangana.
Of the 59 FOBs established this year, Chhattisgarh has the highest number of 32. After that, there are nine FOBs each in Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh, four each in Maharashtra and Odisha and one FOB in Telangana.
In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha in the recently concluded winter session of Parliament, Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said that a total of 377 FOBs have been established since 2019 by all the Central Armed Police Forces deployed in Maoist-affected states. Of these, 74 FOBs were established in 2025, 71 in 2024, 51 in 2023, 66 in 2022, 51 in 2021, 40 in 2020 and 24 in 2019.