STATE TIMES NEWS
NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit Chhattisgarh on April 4 and 5 to take stock of the anti-Naxal operations in the state, sources said. Shah may also visit Jammu and Kashmir on April 7 and 8 to review the security situation.
During his visit to Chhattisgarh, Shah will chair a high-level meeting and review the ongoing operations, sources said.
The home minister has set a target of March 31, 2026 to end Naxal menace in the country. He has repeatedly appealed to the Maoists to surrender and join the mainstream, and assured that government will rehabilitate them properly.
According to data prepared by the Union Home Ministry, at least 130 Naxalites have been killed in encounters in Chhattisgarh so far this year. Of them, over 110 were eliminated in the Bastar division, which comprises seven districts including Bijapur and Kanker.
Over 105 Naxals were arrested from different parts of the country and 164 have surrendered so far in 2025.
In 2024, a total of 290 Naxalites were neutralised, 1,090 were arrested, and 881 surrendered. As many as 15 top Naxal leaders have been neutralised so far.
According to the data, between 2004 and 2014, there were a total of 16,463 incidents of Naxal violence. However, between 2014 and 2024, the number of such incidents decreased by 53 per cent, dropping to 7,744.
Similarly, the number of casualties of security forces decreased by 73 per cent during the period, from 1,851 to 509. The number of civilian casualties decreased by 70 per cent, dropping from 4,766 to 1,495.
In 2014, there were a total of 66 fortified police stations, but the number has increased to 612 in the last 10 years, the data showed.
Similarly, while a total of 126 districts were affected by Naxalism in 2014, it drastically reduced to only 12 by 2024.
In the past five years, a total of 302 new security camps and 68 night-landing helipads have been established by the government, the data showed.
Sources said according to the tentative programme, the home minister will review the security situation and counter-insurgency operations during his visit to Jammu and Kashmir.
Shah is expected to give guidelines aligning with Modi government’s push for zero-infiltration from across the border.
He is also likely to visit forward areas in Jammu region and meet the troops deployed for border security.
On March 21, during a discussion in Rajya Sabha on the working of the home ministry, Shah shared data showing 7,217 incidents of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir between 2004 and 2014, which significantly dropped to 2,242 between 2014 and 2024.
During this period, the total number of deaths decreased by 70 per cent, the number of civilian deaths decreased by 81 per cent, and the casualties of security personnel decreased by 50 per cent, the data showed.
From 2010 to 2014, an average of 2,654 organised stone-pelting incidents occurred each year, but in 2024, no such incident was reported.
There were 132 organised strikes during 2010-14, but none in 2024.
In stone-pelting incidents during the period, 112 civilians were killed and 6,000 injured, but such incidents have completely stopped now, he said.
While there were 1,587 terrorist incidents in 2004, the number reduced to just 85 in 2024.
In 2004, 733 civilians were dead, while the number reduced to 26 in 2024. The number of deaths of security force personnel dropped from 331 in 2004 to 31 in 2024, Shah said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation of democracy in Kashmir, the home minister said, adding that the government now “deals with terrorists by shooting them between the eyes as soon as they are spotted”.