RAIPUR: Seventy-one cadres of outlawed CPI (Maoist) renounced the banned outfit and surrendered in an edgy district of Dantewada, south Bastar, on Wednesday.
Of them, thirty carry a collective reward of Rs 64 lakh.
In an ongoing campaign appeal —‘Lon Varratu’ (return to your home/village)—by Chhattisgarh police intended for the Maoist cadres, Dantewada is consistently yielding results ever since the campaign was launched in 2020 by the then district police chief Abhishek Pallava.
Dantewada district superintendent of police Gaurav Rai said that the total number of Maoists who have so far surrendered under the ‘Lon Varratu’ is 1113, of which 297 people carried rewards on their heads.
“Among the 71 who surrendered on Wednesday were 21 females. Besides the operations under the ongoing anti-Maoist campaign, we are simultaneously carrying out a community outreach programme attempting to impress upon the misled cadres of Red rebels about the benefits of the State’s surrender and rehabilitation policy”, the SP added.
On various occasions, it’s usually the individual approach by security personnel to use various means or channels to convey the message to the cadres of the banned outfit, and try to convince them of the rationality of returning to the mainstream.
Such moves were also jointly carried out in association with the central paramilitary forces in Dantewada and other naxal-affected districts of Bastar division.
The Maoists, after surrender, get the initial financial incentive of Rs 50,000 each.
Besides, if such cadres wish to undergo skill training or set up a small business, they also receive further financial support, provided with free housing and healthcare, farm land, among other amenities under the new surrender rehabilitation policy.
‘Lon Varratu’ is often seen striking an emotional chord with the regional cadres of Maoists, re-educate them on returning to their roots.
Several cadres who left the banned outfit later stated that they realised the “hollow, anti-development ideology” of the Maoist organisation.