India employs UAVs to protect Chhattisgarh iron-ore mines

KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) – The Indian government has beefed up security in the central state of Chhattisgarh to increase protection of iron-ore mining assets in the region from threats posed by ultra-left-wing extremists.

Besides increasing deployment of central paramilitary personnel, the new security protocol is based on intelligence gathering and pre-emptive information being available to paramilitary forces through the deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for surveillance of iron-ore mines across Chhattisgarh.

All data and information collected from UAVs is being fed to a central control room and every threat perception detected is conveyed on a real-time basis to the nearest outpost of paramilitary forces to take action against extremists.

Sources said that most of the iron-ore mines in the region extensively use explosives and detonators and these were often targeted by the extremists for the manufacture of improvised explosive devices for use against government assets.

State-run iron-ore miner NMDC, which has extensive operations across Chhattisgarh, has two of its mines – Bacheli and Kirandul – in a district of the state at the heart of an ultra-left extremist hotbed and is already protected by 600 personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

Sources said that UAVs deployed would conduct round-the-clock surveillance across an 8 km radius around mining sites, feeding real-time information to the central control room for use by CISF personnel protecting mining sites and, especially, personnel drawn from Central Reserve Police Force of the federal government who are specially trained to combat extremists in the densely forested regions of the state.

NMDC assets have been frequently targeted by extremists over the past several years in addition to the theft of large volumes of explosives and detonators from company stores.

As recently as last November, the extremists stormed a mining facility of NMDC and torched nine dumpers and trucks before fleeing into the dense forests in the vicinity. The extremists find support from a section of the local population that opposes mining projects and the acquisition of land for mining projects.