JAGDALPUR: Home minister
Amit Shah, who wound up his first visit to this erstwhile 'Red' pocket-borough since Left-wing extremism was eliminated, on Tuesday listed four dates as milestones in the journey to making Bastar Naxal-free, The first being Dec 23, 2024 when a BJP govt was elected in Chhattisgarh; August 24, 2024, when the March 31, 2026 deadline for uprooting Naxalism was announced; March 31, 2026, before which Naxalism was completely uprooted; and May 19, 2026, which marked the launch of an initiative aimed at doorstep delivery of all govt benefits to the tribals of Bastar by repurposing the security camps set up by the counter-Naxal forces, into one-stop public service centres.
"It is a matter of great pride that Naxalism had been completely eradicated," Shah said but added that a key obstacle in this journey until Dec 13, 2023 was the lack of cooperation from the erstwhile Congress govt in Chhattisgarh (led by Bhupesh Baghel).. "I can now say without any hesitation that while other non-BJP govts have cooperated in the fight against Naxalism, the Congress govt in Chhattisgarh did not do so," he conceded at a press conference organised here.
"After the BJP govt was elected in Chhattisgarh on Dec 13, 2024, we stepped up our efforts to eliminate Naxalism. On August 24, 2024, after reviewing the LWE situation at the annual conference of police chiefs of all states, March 31, 2026 was declared as the deadline for making the country Naxalism-free. The goal was achieved before the deadline ended," Shah told reporters.
The latest milestone he mentioned is May 19, 2026, when a major initiative to create 70 Veer Saheed Gunda Dhur 'seva dera' (public service camps) and push integrated development across Bastar, stands launched.
"Contrary to the narrative peddled by the Left-leaning intelligentsia that Naxalism was due to the lack of development in affected areas, the reality is that lack of development was an outcome of Naxalism," Shah pointed out.
"There were far more backward areas is the country...why is it that Naxalism did jot raise its head in these areas? The other areas eventually saw development, but Bastar remained backward with locals denied of basic development and govt benefits," he noted.
Shah went on: "Now that Bastar is Naxal-free, an initiative to push integrated development has been launched. Yesterday I inaugurated the first Gunda Dhur Seva Dera. Bastar is as big as Kerala, and around 200 camps were set up there by the security forces to carry out the decisive fight against Naxalism. We have now decided that 70 of these camps will be repurposed in the first phase to offer doorstep delivery of govt schemes and benefits. like banking, aadhaar card issue, digital services, etc".
They will serve as common service centres that will offer benefits of 371 govt schemes, and also double up as centres for skill development, health centre, primary education, aanganwadis and fair price shops, he added.
"The aim is to compensate the local tribals, denied development benefits for last five decades, with doorstep delivery of these services latest by 2031. The intent is to ensure 100% saturation of the govt schemes, create jobs and ensure that the locals do not need to travel long distances to access these benefits," said the minister.
The service camp, he added, will also have a cooperative dairy where women can sell their milk. "We will be giving a cow and buffalo each to every tribal woman, who can then market their milk produce through the cooperative," he stated.
"Where the gun once boomed, development will take over. Seva deras will transform Bastar into Naxal-free, developed region," concluded Shah.
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