Naxalites of the People’s War Group (PWG) launched a successful surprise attack on the Addanki police station, east Prakasam district, Andhra Pradesh on 11 June 2003. They blasted the police station and looted 24 muskets and 2,000 rounds of ammunition. Prakasam is a coastal district adjoining the Palanadu region of another coastal district, Guntur, where the PWG has a sizable presence in some 60 villages. Rebel activities in Prakasam have been rising since the past one year. Until early 2002, the PWG was almost absent in the area. On 2 April 2003, the PWG abducted four policemen of the Peddarapadu police station, west Prakasam district, on the fringes of Nallamal forest, and later set them free. Addanki is in the plains, 35km away from the district headquarters, Ongole.

The PWG is clearly expanding to newer areas, according to a pattern. The guerrillas have, in the past, retreated to safer areas when counter-measures intensified where their presence was formidable; thereupon, they gradually strengthened their position in these new areas. The PWG’s task was made easier because of the prevailing social and economic conditions and people’s grievances of being neglected by the Government. Further, the police in those areas were either unprepared to take on the guerrillas or lacked awareness to foresee the impending crisis. The same is true of north coastal Andhra today, like Warangal district in north Telengana during the early 1980s, which is also true of many parts of Chhattisgarh and southern Orissa over the past several years.

At the same time, the rebels have made attempts to demonstrate that they are a force to reckon with in areas that were once their stronghold, but where they are considerably weakened now.  For instance, on 30 May 2003, the PWG failed in their attack on the Mahadevpur police station, Karimnagar district. While there was no loss of life, property worth one crore rupees (approx. US$ 227,000) was damaged or destroyed. On Christmas Eve 2001, the Naxalites set-off a blast and damaged the Hanamkonda police station in the heart of the twin towns of Warangal-Hanamkonda. Earlier that year, on July 29, the guerrillas attacked the Yeturunagaram police station, Warangal district.

The rebels make careful advance preparations before attacking a police station. They choose the target taking into consideration several factors like physical location, distance from safe areas, escape-routes, strength of police personnel, weapons holding and so on. The preparations sometimes commence one month ahead of the attack. Besides, one or two rebels stay behind and mingle with the crowd to get a feed back on the impact the incident on the police as well as the general public in the area. On the other hand, the police are in a disadvantageous position due to lack of intelligence input or complacency.

For the rebels, the physical location of a police station is critical if they are to launch a successful attack.  For the police, availability of physical infrastructure becomes important. Speaking to the media a day ahead of the Addanki attack on 10 June 2003, the Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police, P Ramulu, said the police could not pursue a group of some 60-70 guerrillas, even though they had credible information of their presence, because there were no roads in the Nallamala forests in Mahabubnagar-Prakasam districts. “It would have taken at least 36 hours to reach the spot due to the inhospitable conditions,” Ramulu disclosed.

On 26 May 2003, Ramulu informed the media that the State police would soon begin constructing 250 attack-proof police stations in various Naxalite-effected parts of the State each costing some thirty lakh rupees (approx. US$ 68,000) , ‘in order to provide maximum security to policemen and to prevent attacks by the PWG on police stations.’ A prototype police station is already functional and has been replicated at a few places. Designed by a senior officer with an engineering background, the police station is circular in shape and has different levels. The architecture of the building, it is said, makes it impregnable. A word of caution might, however, be in place. On May 26, Ramulu also said the police have recovered the designs of an RPG during a raid on a PWG dump in the Kalimela forests, Orissa.

The Government is a lumbering giant, slow to move, while the rebels are quick. Decisions relating to ‘routine activities’––like attacking police stations or waylaying passenger vehicles (as they did in the Addanki-attack for traveling in them to reach the target location) are made by field-level commanders to suit their operations. The objective of the guerrillas in attacking police stations is primarily to loot weapons, and sometimes to kill ‘the enemy.’