Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday said the coverage area of the ‘Niyad Nellanar’ (our clean village) scheme should be expanded from a 5 km to 10 km radius around the Forward Operating Base (FOB) being set up by the central security forces led by the CRPF.
Shah was on a two-day visit to Chhattisgarh and held a detailed security review meeting in Raipur on Sunday. After the review, Shah said it must be ensured that people in Naxal-affected areas receive equal opportunities for development. The Union home minister said that the momentum of the anti-Naxal operation should not diminish under any circumstances. He added that Naxalism has ruined many generations, and now it should not take more time to eliminate this problem.
He said the ongoing fight against Naxalites must not be scattered and coordination among state police and central agencies should improve to nab those Naxals fleeing from one state to another. ET has recently done several ground reports highlighting critical security and infrastructure gaps to achieve the target of completely eliminating Naxalism before March 31, 2026. The home minister said, “The double engine government under the leadership of PM Modi is leaving no stone unturned in completely eliminating Naxalism. Before March 31, 2026, Naxalism will become history in the entire country, including Chhattisgarh.”Shah had also announced that the village that gets all Naxalites to surrender will be declared Naxal-free and will be given a development fund of Rs 1 crore. According to the home ministry data, 521 Naxalites have surrendered so far this year, while 881 Naxalites surrendered in 2024 in Chhattisgarh.
The meeting was attended by Chhattisgarh CM Vishnu Deo Sai, Deputy CM Vijay Sharma, Director of IB Tapan Deka, Special Secretary (Internal Security) in MHA Praveen Vashistha, DG CRPF GP Singh, NIA DG Sadanand Date, BSF DG Daljit Singh Chaudhary and ITBP chief Rahul Rasgotra.