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By:

Abhijit Mulye

21 August 2024 at 11:29:11 am

Gadchiroli SP declares Maoist menace ‘almost over’

Mumbai: In a resounding statement signalling a historic shift, Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police (SP) Neelotpal has declared the district, once the dark heart of the ‘Red Corridor,’ is on the verge of becoming completely free of the Naxal menace. The SP expressed absolute confidence in the complete eradication of the banned CPI (Maoist) presence, noting that the remaining cadres have dwindled to a mere handful. “There has been a sea change in the situation,” SP Neelotpal stated,...

Gadchiroli SP declares Maoist menace ‘almost over’

Mumbai: In a resounding statement signalling a historic shift, Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police (SP) Neelotpal has declared the district, once the dark heart of the ‘Red Corridor,’ is on the verge of becoming completely free of the Naxal menace. The SP expressed absolute confidence in the complete eradication of the banned CPI (Maoist) presence, noting that the remaining cadres have dwindled to a mere handful. “There has been a sea change in the situation,” SP Neelotpal stated, highlighting the dramatic turnaround. He revealed that from approximately 100 Maoist cadres on record in January 2024, the number has plummeted to barely 10 individuals whose movements are now confined to a very small pocket of the Bhamragad sub-division in South Gadchiroli, near the Chhattisgarh border. “North Gadchiroli is now free of Maoism. The Maoists have to surrender and join the mainstream or face police action... there is no other option.” The SP attributes this success to a meticulously executed multi-pronged strategy encompassing intensified anti-Maoist operations, a robust Civic Action Programme, and the effective utilisation of Maharashtra’s attractive surrender-cum-rehabilitation policy. The Gadchiroli Police, especially the elite C-60 commandos, have achieved significant operational milestones. In the last three years alone, they have neutralised 43 hardcore Maoists and achieved a 100 per cent success rate in operations without police casualties for nearly five years. SP Neelotpal highlighted that the security forces have aggressively moved to close the “security vacuum,” which was once an estimated 3,000 square kilometres of unpoliced territory used by Maoists for training and transit. The establishment of eight new police camps/Forward Operating Bases (FoBs) since January 2023, including in the remote Abujhmad foothills, has been crucial in securing these areas permanently. Winning Hearts, Minds The Civic Action Programme has been deemed a “game changer” by the SP. Through schemes like ‘Police Dadalora Khidaki’ and ‘Project Udaan’, the police have transformed remote outposts into service delivery centres, providing essential government services and employment opportunities. This sustained outreach has successfully countered Maoist propaganda and, most critically, resulted in zero Maoist recruitment from Gadchiroli for the last few years. Surrender Wave The state’s progressive rehabilitation policy has seen a massive influx of surrenders. “One sentiment is common among all the surrendered cadres: that the movement has ended, it has lost public support, and without public support, no movement can sustain,” the SP noted. The surrender of key figures, notably that of Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias ‘Bhupathi,’ a CPI (Maoist) Politburo member, and his wife Sangeeta, was a “landmark development” that triggered a surrender wave. Since June 2024, over 126 Maoists have surrendered. The rehabilitation program offers land, housing under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, and employment. Surrendered cadres are receiving skill training and are successfully transitioning into normal life, with around 70 already employed in the local Lloyds plant. A District Reborn The transformation of Gadchiroli is now moving beyond security concerns. With the decline of extremism, the district is rapidly moving towards development and normalcy. The implementation of development schemes, round-the-clock electricity, water supply, mobile towers, and new infrastructure like roads and bridges is being given top priority. He concludes that the police’s focus is now shifting from an anti-Maoist offensive to routine law-and-order policing, addressing new challenges like industrialisation, theft, and traffic management. With the Maoist movement in “complete disarray” and major strongholds like the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh (MMC) Special Zone collapsing, the SP is highly optimistic. Gadchiroli is not just getting rid of the Naxal menace; it is embracing its future as a developing, peaceful district, well on track to meet the central government’s goal of eradicating Naxalism by March 31, 2026.

MVA’s poll guarantees; promises Rs 3,000 per month to women

MVA’s poll guarantees

Mumbai: Seeking to outdo the ruling coalition in Maharashtra, the Opposition's Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi alliance on Wednesday promised women in the state Rs 3,000 per month and free travel in state transport buses.


Under the Krishi Sammruddhi Yojana, farmers will get loan waiver up to Rs 3 lakh and Rs 50,000 as an incentive for regular repayment of crop loans, the Shiv Sena (UBT)-NCP(SP)-Congress alliance announced ahead of the November 20 state assembly elections.


Allowance of Rs 4,000 per month for unemployed youth, health insurance up to Rs 25 lakh and free medicines were the other guarantees announced at a gathering addressed by top MVA leaders at the BKC ground here.


Notably, the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP government in Maharashtra currently pays Rs 1,500 per month to eligible women under its flagship `Ladki Bahin' scheme and has promised to increase the amount to Rs 2,100 if it retained power.


The MVA also promised to conduct a caste census in the state if elected to power, and remove the 50 percent cap on reservations if elected to power at the Centre.


Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on this occasion that the present politics in the country is a fight between the ideologies of the RSS/BJP and Opposition's INDIA grouping.


NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar said never before Maharashtra had seen such a decline in all spheres of life.

Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray said the MVA will ensure that the prices of five essential commodities -- edible oil, sugar, rice, wheat, daal -- remain stable.


Yasin Malik’s wife writes to Rahul Gandhi

Lahore: Mushaal Hussein Mullick, wife of incarcerated chief of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), on Wednesday asked Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi to initiate a debate in Parliament for her husband, who she claimed can bring peace to Jammu and Kashmir.


Mullick, the former assistant to prime minister on human rights and women empowerment, wrote a letter to Gandhi drawing attention towards Malik’s trial in a “three-decades-old sedition case in which the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has demanded death sentence for him.”


Raut’s request to Pawar

Sanjay Raut on Wednesday called Nationalist Congress Party (SP) president Sharad Pawar the ‘Bhishma Pitamah’ of parliamentary politics and disapproved of any plan by him to retire from active politics.


Talking to reporters, Raut said currently there was no Indian leader with so much parliamentary experience as Pawar (83), who has been in electoral politics for nearly 60 years now.


Raut disclosed that the former Union minister had expressed this desire (to retire from active politics) before him, too.


“I told him not to bring this to his mind. Experience, and not age, that matters here. ”

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