NEW DELHI: Days after the security forces in a massive counter-insurgency operation eliminated as many as 31 Maoists in conflict-ridden Bastar, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday, October 7 will chair a review meeting with the Chief Ministers of States marred by red terrorism, said the ministry in an official release.
Chief Ministers and State secretaries of Bihar, Jharkhand, Telangana, Odisha, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh will attend the meeting scheduled to take place at Vigyan Bhavan of national capital. Other than the CMs of the insurgency-hit states, five Union Minister along Deputy National Security Advisor and senior officers from Centre, States & Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) will also take part in the crucial meet aimed at taking forward the campaign against the extremists, added the statement.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and guidance of Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah, Union Government is committed to completely root out the menace of Maoist insurgency by March, 2026. The Union Government is providing all possible assistance to the Maoist affected State Governments in fighting the menace of Naxalism (Maoism), it added.
Notably, the Union Home Minister Shah had last chaired the review meeting with the Chief Ministers of Maoist-affected states on 06th October, 2023 where the Home Minister had given comprehensive directions with regard to tackling the Maoist insurgency issue.
The statement further noted that due to the strategy of incumbent Union Government, Maoist related violence has come down by 72% while there is 86% decline in deaths in 2023 as compared to year 2010, suggesting that the Maoist group is fighting its last battle today.
The year 2024, so far, has witnessed unprecedented success by the Security Forces in elimination of armed Maoists cadres. So far, 202 Maoists cadres have been eliminated in this year, 723 of them have surrendered before the authorities in first 9 months of the current year and while 812 have been arrested during separate search operations, it added.
It further emphasised that the Union Government has taken many steps, including impetus on road and mobile connectivity, to take developmental schemes to the remotest areas of the affected States. 14400 km roads have been constructed and nearly 6000 mobile towers have been installed in Maoist affected areas, so far, reducing the spread of red terror by confining it to just 38 districts in the year 2024.
Notably, around 1500 personnel of separate units of Security Forces launched a massive offensive in Maoist’s bastion of Abujhmaad, crossing over culverts, dirt tracks and hilly terrain in heavily forested Maad region along their way to deal a major blow on Maoists on October 3-4.
The operation lasted for around 48 hours resulting in neutralization of as many as 31 armed Maoists including of top commander like Neeti alias Urmila, a seasoned Maoist carrying a bounty of Rs 25 lakh on her head, Nandu Mandavi, Suresh Salaam and others. Those who were killed in the action were carrying a whopping cumulative bounty of 1.7 crores.
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