The central government has given the go-ahead to the state government for appointing 3,000 more SPOs to take the war against the guerrillas to their den, a home department official said.
A majority of the appointments will be carried out in restive 40,000 sq km Bastar region that has become a nerve centre of Maoist militants, he said, adding local youth, mostly tribals, would be picked up for the job.
'The new recruits will help us to escalate the fight against Maoists as SPOs are always handy to provide village-level inputs about Maoists' movements and their hideouts,' he added.