‘194 Naxals Neutralised, 801 Arrested In Chhattisgarh Since January’: Amit Shah

Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday said that 194 Naxals were neutralised, 801 arrested and 742 surrendered in Chhattisgarh since January.

While chairing a review meeting with chief ministers of Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected states in the capital, the minister appealed to the Naxals to lay down their arms and join the mainstream.

Shah highlighted that nearly 13,000 individuals have done so in the northeast and Jammu Kashmir.

“I congratulate the Chief Minister, Home Minister, DGP and the entire team of Chhattisgarh. Since January, 194 Naxalites have been killed, 801 Naxalites have been arrested and 742 Naxalites have surrendered,” ANI quoted Shah as saying.

“I appeal to all the youth associated with Naxalism to leave the weapons and come in the mainstream. Whether it is northeast or JK, almost 13000 have left the weapon and joined the mainstream,” he added.

Shah cited the Security Related Expenditure scheme, which witnessed a threefold increase in funding from ₹1180 crore between 2004-2014 to ₹3,006 crore from 2014-2024.

“Under the Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme, ₹1180 crore was spent on this scheme from 2004-2014, while from 2014-2024 we have spent ₹3,006 crore which is almost three times. SRE is the main scheme which contribute to the development work in the Naxal affected areas. Under the Special Central Assistance Scheme, we have spent ₹3590 crore in the last ten years,” he added.

“Before 2019, two helicopters were deployed for soldiers, but today the number have increased to 12 including six of Border Security Force (BSF) and six of air force to help the soldiers. When I went to Chhattisgarh in January, we made a planned detail for development and eradication of Naxilsm,” he said.

‘544 fortified police stations built in last 10 years’: Shah

Shah added,”544 fortified police stations have been built in the last 10 years. Earlier the road network was 2900 km, in the last 10 years the road network has been increased to 11,500 km. In the last 10 years, 15,300 mobile towers have been installed and out of them 5139 towers have been given 4G connections.”

“Before 2014, 38 Eklavya model schools were approved but none of them were built. Now 216 schools were approved out of which 165 have been built,” he said.

“Earlier nothing was spent on air efforts but now 1000 crore is spent to buy air efforts. 131 crore have been spent to build a trauma centre in Jagdalpur,” Shah added.