Bastar: In a significant development, the Ministry of Home Affairs has removed Bastar and Kondagon districts of Chhattisgarh from Maoist-affected districts and listed it under the category of district with ‘legacy and thrust’.
The development marks a significant achievement in the ongoing campaign against red terror aimed at eradicating the Maoist menace from Bharat before March next year.
According to the officials, Maoist activities have reduced significantly in Bastar and other affected regions of the country in recent years and has now confined to only 18 districts.
“The Naxal (Maoist) activity in Bastar and many regions of India has “reduced significantly” as a result of carrying out operations against the banned and “illegal” CPI-M outfit, said Inspector General (IG) of police, Bastar, P Sundarraj on May 28.
He stated that the Union Home Ministry has recently listed a total of 18 Maoist-affected districts in the country; these districts were further divided into three sub-categories of most affected districts, other affected districts and districts of concern.
He further said that a total of 4 districts of Chhattisgarh were placed under the category of most affected districts while 3 districts were identified as other affected districts. 6 other districts of the state are listed under a special category.
“In terms of Chhattisgarh, 4 districts of Bastar sub-division- Bijapur, Sukma, Narayanpur, and Kanker were identified as the most affected LWE districts while 3 districts namely Dantewada, Manpur-Mohla and Gariaband were placed under the category of other Maoist-affected districts,” he said.
He further informed that the government has identified a total of 28 districts in the country as districts with ‘legacy and thrust’ where strict observations are still required.
“28 districts of the country are included in the list of ‘legacy and thrust’ due to history of Maoist activities. These districts however have shown improvement to a great extent in recent times,” said IG Bastar.
“On the basis of this, six districts of Chhattisgarh including Bastar, Kondagaon, Dhamtari and others are listed under legacy and thrust category. These districts will be specially monitored by us for any kind of resurgence,” he added.
The IG noted that most of the districts in Chhattisgarh are seeing a drop in naxal activity, though strict observation is still required. He exuded confidence that all these districts will be soon declared Maoist-free.
It is noteworthy that the security forces have intensified anti-Maoists operations in Bastar and other areas marred by red terror alongside pacing up development works.
Earlier, a team of security forces in a major encounter neutralised a total of 27 hardcore Maoists including the general secretary of Maoist outfit Kesav Nambala Rao in Abujhmad of Narayanpur on May 21. Notably, the Union Government has announced to eliminate Maoist-insurgency from Bharat by March next year.
