Bastar ticks deadline box, but 40,000 forces not moving out anytime soon

Raipur: Bastar may have met the March 31 deadline set for ending Left Wing Extremism, there will be no immediate drawdown of the nearly 40,000 central force personnel deployed in the region. The next six months will be used to assess ground conditions, plug security gaps and build up the state's own policing capacity before any decision is taken on the withdrawal of central forces.Speaking to TOI, Bastar range IG P Sundarraj said speculations over a quick withdrawal of CAPF personnel was misplaced, as such decisions are guided by ground parameters and directions from the Union home ministry. "It will not happen immediately with the realisation of the objective in Bastar. The situation will be reassessed, a detailed report will be prepared over the next six months, and only then will a decision be taken by the (home) ministry," the IG said.The state, he said, is also moving to ensure that no security vacuum is created once central forces are eventually rolled out. Sundarraj said 10 new police stations have been sanctioned across Bastar division in the 2026-27 budget, in addition to two approved earlier, while more than 4,000 Bastar Fighters personnel will be deployed in these and other understaffed police stations. The Bastar Fighters unit includes personnel across police ranks, from station house officers to constables.The transition, he said, will be gradual rather than symbolic. Even after the end of active insurgency, central forces will continue forest patrols, area domination, recovery of hidden Maoist arms, explosive disposal and surveillance of the activities of surrendered cadres. They will also assist in village outreach and confidence-building measures as normal life slowly returns to areas once considered Maoist strongholds.Sundarraj said the future model for ensuring security post the CAPF drawdown would rely less on raw troop numbers and more on professional, qualitative policing. "The state has to build its own capacity. What we need eventually is not just numerical strength, but better policing," he said.Earlier, Chhattisgarh deputy chief minister Vijay Sharma, who also juggles the home dept, said the central forces posted in Bastar would start pulling out after March 31, 2027.The scaling up for police personnel in Bastar was one of the focus areas of the 2025-26 budget, with the State approving 3,202 new posts for Bastar, from inspector to constable rank, including 2,500 Bastar Fighter constable posts across the seven dists of the division. The budget also provisioned for another 1,500 Bastar Fighter constable posts for Bijapur, Sukma and Narayanpur. Together, the 12 proposed new police stations in the region would have an estimated requirement of about 500 personnel.According to the sanctioned plan, new police stations will come up at Potali in Dantewada, Mehta and Silger in Sukma, Pujari in Bijapur, Korcholi and Sitram in Kanker and Garpa, Kasturmeta, Toke and Kutul in Narayanpur. Earlier, the govt cleared the opening of two more police stations at Elmagunda and Dabbakonta in Sukma.