On Monday, a Maoist rebel was shot dead in a fire-fight with security forces in Kanker, a few days after the government announced that Chhattisgarh was left-wing extremism-free. The attack occurred in an overgrown forest region in an on-going anti-Maoist campaign by a combined force of security agents.
Police officials claimed that the body of a woman Maoist who was named Rupi, a member of the Partapur area committee had been found at the location together with a weapon. The operation was still ongoing; authorities said, and more details were likely to be forthcoming as they continued to comb the area.
This is after Union Home Minister Amit Shah told Parliament that the March 31 deadline to destroy Left-wing extremism was met. He pointed out that 4,839 Maoists had surrendered, 706 had been killed and 2,218 had been arrested during the year-long security operations.
In the meantime, Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai has just held an audience with Prime Minister Narendra Modi where he tabled an elaborate development roadmap of the Bastar region, which had been regarded as the epicentre of Maoist activities. The plan incorporates education hubs, healthcare facilities, irrigation projects and eco-tourism projects.
During decades, insurgency was a severe problem in such districts as Bastar, Dantewada, Sukma, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Kondagaon, and Kanker. The most recent experience, though, suggests that even in the face of more widespread proclamations of victory, the individual militant action can still continue.