Bijapur (Chhattisgarh): As many as 52 Naxalites, 49 of them carrying a collective bounty of over Rs 1.41 crore, surrendered before the police in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Thursday, a senior official said.
The surrendered cadres, including 21 women, were active in Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC), Andhra-Odisha Border division and Bhamragarh area committee (Maharashtra) of Maoists, they said.
They turned themselves in before senior police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officials here under the “Poona” Margem (from rehabilitation to social reintegration) initiative, Bijapur Superintendent of Police Jitendra Kumar Yadav said.
Bijapur Superintendent of Police Jitendra Kumar Yadav said the Naxalites were influenced by the state’s surrender and rehabilitation policy. Among them, divisional committee member Lakkhu Karam, also known as Anil (32), and platoon party committee members Laxmi Madvi (28) and Chinni Sodhi, alias Shanti (28), each carried a reward of Rs 8 lakh. Thirteen cadres had bounties of Rs 5 lakh each, 19 carried Rs 2 lakh each, and 14 had Rs 1 lakh each.
As part of the rehabilitation programme, each surrendered Naxalite will receive an immediate financial assistance of Rs 50,000 and will be reintegrated into society as per the government’s policy. The surrender comes amid a series of similar developments in the region. On Wednesday, 29 Naxalites laid down arms in Sukma district, while 63 surrendered in Dantewada on January 8, and 26 others joined the mainstream in Sukma on January 7. In total, more than 1,500 Naxalites have surrendered in Chhattisgarh in 2025.
The central government has set a target to eliminate Naxalism from India by March 31 this year. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has several times claimed that they were on the right course to achieve the target.
