Security gains, development to make Chhattisgarh Maoist-free by next March: CM Sai

Raipur, Aug 15 (PTI) Security forces have neutralised 450 Maoists and arrested 1,578 in Chhattisgarh over the past 20 months amid rapid progress towards achieving the goal of freeing the country from Left Wing Extremism (LWE) by March 2026, Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai said on Friday.

Development has followed security gains, with schools reopening, electricity reaching remote villages, and banking services starting in erstwhile Maoist strongholds in the state, he said.

In his Independence Day address to the state at Police Parade grounds here, Sai saluted the security personnel for defeating the Naxalites by entering and overpowering them in their hideouts.

“Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, we are moving rapidly towards the goal of freeing the country from Maoist terrorism by March 2026. In the past 20 months, our forces have neutralised 450 Maoists and arrested 1,578,” he said.

Top Maoist leaders Basavaraju and Sudhakar are among the Naxalites killed by security forces in encounters. Attracted by the state government’s surrender policy, 1,589 Maoists have laid down their arms (during this period), he said.

“Good governance truly means when its benefits reach the last person. In Tadmetla (now in Sukma district), where 76 security personnel had sacrificed their lives in a Maoist attack (in 2010), the nearby Chintagufa Health Centre has received a national quality certificate. On average, 20 deliveries take place there every month, and thousands of villagers receive free medical treatment,” he said.

With Naxalism waning, development has picked up pace in Bastar. Fifty closed schools have been reopened, and many villages have received electricity for the first time. Through the ‘Niyad Nella Nar’ (Your Good Village) scheme, basic amenities have reached 327 villages. Pamed, once a Maoist stronghold, now boasts of a bank branch, he added.

Hailing the armed forces, Sai said that “from the attack by Pakistan after Independence in 1947 to the recent Operation Sindoor, our soldiers have always protected the honour of the tricolour”.

Operation Sindoor, carried out under PM Modi’s leadership, became a global symbol of India’s valour and strong will, he said.

India’s economy has become the fourth-largest in the world under Modi’s leadership, Sai said. “Our Chandrayaan has reached the Moon’s south pole, and Shubhanshu Shukla has hoisted the tricolour at the International Space Station,” he said.

The state government has been developing an education city in Nava Raipur Atal Nagar and a science city there to promote science and research.

“We are developing Nava Raipur Atal Nagar as the ‘Silicon Valley’ of central India. The National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology will be set up there, which will create a large talent pool of IT here,” he said. The state government is going to start a Livelihood Centre of Excellence in Nava Raipur.

Youths are being trained through Skill Development Centres in all the 32 development blocks of the tribal-dominated Bastar division. “We have set a target of setting up 150 startups in the state,” the CM added.

Chhattisgarh has attracted investment proposals worth Rs 6.65 lakh crore through investor summits in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Raipur, he said.

“By 2030, we will lay the same length of railway lines as were laid from the inception of the railway in 1853 to 2014 in the state,” he said.

To curb corruption, the government has implemented an e-office system in all departments, he said.

The Chief Minister Rural Bus Service Scheme will be launched in the Bastar and Surguja divisions. These buses will be operated by local people, he said.

Through the Rs 50,000-crore Bodhghat multipurpose project (in Bastar), 200 MW of electricity will be produced, while irrigation facilities will be expanded in about 7 lakh hectares of area, he said.

The CM urged citizens to embrace the “Vocal for Local” campaign, promote MSMEs (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises), and support self-reliance in agriculture and industry.

“We all have to come forward to ensure that Chhattisgarh plays a leading role in taking forward the ‘Vocal for Local’ campaign of PM Modi. Swadeshi is not only a means of employment generation, it is also an act of patriotism,” he said.

To realise the PM’s Viksit Bharat by 2047 dream, the government has prepared a roadmap in the form of ‘Chhattisgarh Anjor Vision’ document to achieve the goal of “Developed Chhattisgarh”, he said.

“Women empowerment is the top priority of our government. Under ‘Mahatari Vandan Yojana’, the state has been providing Rs 1,000 monthly assistance to 70 lakh married women in the state, with Rs 11,728 crore already disbursed,” he said.

Through ‘Krishak Unnati Yojana’, farmers in Chhattisgarh are being given the highest price for paddy. A record purchase of 149 lakh metric tonnes of paddy was made in the last Kharif season, he said. The Sai government has been procuring paddy from farmers at Rs 3,100 per quintal.

Farmers cultivating other crops instead of paddy in Kharif season will be given Rs 11,000 per acre, and those growing pulses-oilseeds, maize, kodo, kutki, ragi and cotton crops will get input assistance of Rs 10,000 per acre.

The state has rationalised schools and teachers as per the new education policy. “Now there are teachers even in the remote villages of Sukma. The teacher-student ratio is the same in the entire state, he said. PTI TKP NR