80 naxals killed, 125 held while 150 surrendered in Chattisgarh

New Delhi, April 19

At least 80 Naxals have been killed and more than 125 arrested while 150 have surrendered in this year so far in Chhattisgarh, where 29 ultras were gunned down two days ago in a fierce encounter with security forces. Union Home Minister Amit Shah had directed security forcers to carry out operations against Maoists pro-actively.

HM's direction led to the formation of a high-powered committee, the members of which included director generals of police, director generals of the Central Reserve Police Force, the Border Security Forces , the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and the Intelligence Bureau, and other officials of the anti-Maoist grid.

Left Wing Extremism-related violence has declined in the country by 52 per cent and the number of deaths by 69 per cent from 6,035 to 1,868 in 2014-23 compared to 2004-14, according to Union home ministry data.

In the most recent case, security personnel gunned down 29 Naxalites, including some senior members, in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district on April 16. This is by far, country's biggest encounter in any state. 

According to home ministry data, LWE incidents have reduced from 14,862 to 7,128 in 2004-14 compared to 2014-23.

The number of deaths of security personnel due to Left Wing Extremism has declined by 72 per cent from 1,750 in 2004-14 to 485 during 2014-23, while the number of civilian deaths has declined by 68 per cent from 4,285 to 1,383.

The number of districts with incidents of violence was 96 in 2010. This declined by 53 per cent to 45 in 2022. Along with this, the number of police stations reporting violence decreased from 465 in 2010 to 176 in 2022.

In the last five years, more than 5,000 post offices were set up in 90 districts that have Maoist presence or where the ultras were present.

As many as 1,298 banks branches were opened and 1,348 ATMs made operational in the 30 most-affected districts. A total of 4,885 mobile towers were constructed at a cost of Rs 2,690 crore in Naxal-hit areas and 9,356 km roads constructed at a cost of Rs 10,718 crore.

The officials said 121 Eklavya residential schools, 43 ITIs and 38 skill development centres were setup to engage the local youth.