Gadchiroli, June 6 (District Correspondent) As many as 12 Naxalites carrying a bounty of crores surrendered along with their weapons before Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today. This is the first such incident of naxal surrender along with their weapons.
The surrendered naxals include DVCM (Divisional Committee Member) Sapanakka, (wife of DKSZCM Geereddy Pavanananda Reddy) along with three senior cadres of DVCM rank along with one Commander, two Dy. Commander, four ACM and one-Party Member. Maharashtra Government had announced a total cash reward of Rs. 1.12 crores cumulatively on them.
The CM reached Kawande village on the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border. He became the first Chief Minister of the state to visit this extremely remote and Naxal-affected area.
We presented a copy of the Constitution of India to the surrendered naxals today. Industries like Lloyd’s have made a big contribution in rehabilitation of the surrendered naxals. We want to make this district employment-rich and develop it as the steel city of India. While doing this, the government is determined to do this development while preserving the natural resources, water, land and forests here, said Mr. Fadnavis while speaking on the occasion.
C-60 jawans felicitated—The C-60 jawans of the district police who performed commendable jobs while fighting against the naxals were felicitated by Mr. Fadnavis. Speaking on the occasion, Fadnavis said that today I visited Kawande Outpost and interacted with the villagers. Our police force built Kawande Outpost in just 24 hours. This is not just a police station, but an initiative to bring government administration to the people. Where there was a lack of security, government administration is being brought to the people by opening police stations. In the last two years, 6 such outposts have been built, he said.
In the last one and a half years, 28 Maoists were killed, 31 Maoists were arrested, and 44 people surrendered. This is a new record. Many who had huge bounties on them are now leaving Maoism and returning to normal life. Our battle is now in its final stage. Our soldiers carried out very difficult operations in Kawande. Our target is to eliminate Naxalism by March 2026. Naxal recruitment had completely stopped in Maharashtra for 4 years. Union Home Minister Amit Shah took very strict steps and now Naxalism is on the verge of ending, said Mr. Fadnavis.
At a beneficiary meet organized in the remote and Naxal-affected Kawande area near the Telangana border, Chief Minister Fadnavis directly interacted with the people and said that the government is determined to make Gadchiroli a Naxal-free and industrially capable district. The winds of change have started blowing in Naxal-affected areas, and people’s trust in the government has increased, he stated. A total of 987 benefits of various schemes were distributed to 533 beneficiaries.
Co-guardian minister Ashish Jaiswal, MLA Dharmaraobaba Atram, MLA Dr. Milind Narote, Lloyds Metals and energy Managing director B. Prabhakaran, DIG Ankit Goyal, District Collector Avishyant Panda, SP Nilotpal, Additional Chief Secretary (Forest) and Guardian Secretary Milind Mhaiskar, Ajai Kumar Sharma, Dy. Inspector General (Ops.) CRPF, D. E. Kindo, Commandant 37 Bn. CRPF, M. Ramesh, Addnl. SP (Ops.), Satya Sai Karthik, Addnl. SP Aheri and other dignitaries were present at the programme.
