RAIPUR : Come Independence Day, 15 villages in dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, a hotbed of Maoist insurgency, would be declared free of Red terror. The authorities in the district, one of the worst-affected by Maoist insurgency in the country, had earlier this year begun an exercise to categorise villages into three groups — Green, Yellow, and Red — based on the level of insurgent threat.
The Dantewada police, in collaboration with the district administration carried out a door-to-door survey and found that these 15 villages that were once known to be Maoist strongholds have reported ‘zero’ Naxal activity in the last one year or so.“Fifteen villages would be declared free from the sway of the Maoists on August 15. In the survey, we asked 10 simple questions to the inhabitants of the villages. The queries dealt with Maoist-related incidents,” said SP Abhishek Pallava.
Maoists were, however, found to be active in as many as 75 villages in the district. Forty-two of those villages fell in the Yellow zone (sensitive) and 33 in the Red zone (hypersensitive). Authorities said a variety of factors contributed to the decline in Maoist activity in the remaining 15 villages surveyed. These include hundreds of insurgents surrendering in recent years, many being killed, and the setting up of more security camps. “All these have significantly weakened their hold,” said the district police chief.