FPJ Interview: 'People Have Turned The Tide Towards Police,' Says Gadchiroli SP Neelotpal On Successful Anti-Naxal Operations

This month, the Gadchiroli police have managed to carry out several successful operations against Maoists, from destroying a Maoist camp to arresting five Maoists and neutralising four of them. In an interview with FPJ's Somendra Sharma, Superintendent of Police, Gadchiroli, Neelotpal spoke on the reasons behind these successful operations and the deteriorating presence of naxals in the region.

Excerpts From The Interview

Q. In the recent past, the Gadchiroli police have managed to carry out many successful operations against Maoists, what is the reason behind this success?

A. Reason is that we have been able to generate intelligence in the deepest of the areas by winning hearts and minds of the people who used to be hardcore Maoists sympathisers and supporters, used to supply logistics, have turned the tide towards the police department and district administration. This has been a biggest game changer in the fight against Left Wing Extremists (LWEs). Now they are giving information about the Maoists to the police. This has been the biggest reason for successful operations. Apart from that, we have changed a lot of strategies which includes the deployment of circular cut-off. Circular cut-off is like a big gherabandi in a circle on a probable location of a Maoist hideout and searching the entire area so that there is no escape route.

Q. The police have also managed to recover and seized lots of firearms in these operations. Who is the supplier of these weapons?

A. The weapons which we have all seized are not supplied by anybody from outside. These are the arms and ammunition which were looted by the Maoists from the late 90s to the early 2000 in major ambushes on the police parties. Whatever weapons we are recovering after the neutralisation of cadres when we check our records, most of the weapons are ones which had been looted from Gadchiroli police during 2008-10. In one of the recent encounters we found that one of the Maoist was carrying an AK-47 which was looted from an SRPF constable who was killed in 2012. The detonators and wires were initially smuggled from marble mining locations.

Q. How many Maoists have been killed, arrested and surrendered in the past few years?

A. From October 2022 till May 24 this year, at least 36 Maoist have been neutralised, 47 have surrendered and 70 were arrested in Gadchiroli.

Q. How much is the presence of Maoists in Gadchiroli? By when do you believe there will be complete eradication of Maoists from Gadchiroli?

A. Maoist presence had reached its peak in 2012 when their strength in Gadchiroli was around 290. After that, there has been a sizable decline. Presently we are left with barely 40 cadres, out of which only 24-25 are active armed cadres. The Union Home Minister Amit Shah has assured the citizens of the country that India will be Naxal-free by March 31, 2026.

Q. How valuable has the support of the locals to the police in combating Naxalism?

A. Our civic action programme has been a game changer, reaching around 10 lakh beneficiaries in the past four years. It began with the Police Dadalora Khidaki scheme, a single-window system to deliver government services like Aadhaar cards, Jan Dhan accounts, and Ladki Bahin Yojana benefits to remote villages via police outposts. Two years ago, we launched Project Udaan to provide employment and self-employment opportunities for Gadchiroli’s youth, benefiting over 12,000 individuals. As a result of these initiatives, there has been zero Maoist recruitment in the last four years, and nearly 500 tribal youths have joined the police as constables.

Q. What do you have to say about the rehabilitation schemes for the naxals? Are those schemes effective and showing results?

A. Maharashtra rehabilitation scheme of surrender started in 2014. It is a very lucrative scheme in which we provide them cash awards and apart from this we provide them housing as well. We also help them in providing employment opportunities for them.

Published on: Monday, May 26, 2025, 07:22 AM IST