Union Home minister Amit Shah has declared the country Naxal-free from April 2026, marking an end to the decades-long Maoist insurgency in the red corridor, including states like Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. The affected states have, however, not let their guards down to ensure the insurgency does not recur. In an exclusive interview with Asish Mehta, ADG Anti-Naxal Operations Sanjeeb Panda speaks about Odisha’s future roadmap to make sure that the Left-wing extremism does not re-emerge in the future.
Odisha has been declared Naxal-free. What is the future roadmap of the state police?
Union Home minister Amit Shah has declared Odisha Naxal-free. However, we will continue to keep our guard up for the next couple of years so that Maoist activities do not relapse in the state. We will also continue to keep a close watch on the ground activities of the red ultras who did not lay down their arms as per the scheduled deadline of March 31.
A few Maoists are still present in Kandhamal and neighbouring districts. Is there any senior cadre amongst them? If yes, why did they choose not to surrender?
Only eight to nine cadres are left in Kandhamal district. We will continue our joint operations involving Odisha Police’s Special Operations Group (SOG), District Voluntary Force (DVF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Border Security Force (BSF) till we achieve zero figures on the ground. All the senior cadres like central committee members and state committee members have either been neutralised or have surrendered. There is no senior leader left in the state.
For how long and in which districts will the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) remain deployed? What will be their role now?
As per the communication received from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the CAPFs will be deployed in Odisha till July 2027. Their operation bases will continue to function in all the districts which were once the strongholds of the banned CPI (Maoist). They will continue carrying out area domination exercises to check any Maoist activity and instill a sense of safety and security among the tribal people.
Will Odisha continue to receive benefits under Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme?
Yes, nine districts - Malkangiri, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Boudh, Kandhamal and Sundargarh will continue to receive benefits under SRE scheme.
Since 2025, how many Maoists have laid down their arms and what was their collective reward amount?
Around 78 Maoists including four state committee members surrendered before Odisha Police while nearly 42 extremists including two state committee members operating in Odisha laid down their arms in Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. In Odisha, a central committee member carried a reward Rs 1.10 crore and state committee member Rs 55 lakh. We recorded significant number of surrenders as Odisha had the best rehabilitation policy in the country.
Will coordination with neighbouring states continue to ensure the LWE menace does not re-emerge?
We will continue our joint operations with Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand police forces to ensure there is no influx of the red ultras from the neighbouring states. The SPs of these states will continue to share intelligence too.
What major steps did the state government and the police take to ensure eradication of the Naxal menace as per the Centre’s deadline?
Both the Centre and the Odisha government took up several developmental projects and introduced various schemes in the Maoist-affected districts of the state. One of the major takeaways was when Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi formulated the best surrender and rehabilitation policy. After the revised surrender policy, most of the Naxals including those hailing from Chhattisgarh and operating in the state surrendered before Odisha Police. The state police also carried out intelligence-based multi-party operations involving SOG, DVF, CRPF and BSF. As of now, there is no recruitment in the banned outfit from Odisha. People of the state are also not supporting the Maoist activities anymore.