Overview
- Senior Maoist commander Papa Rao, who is also known as Ashok and Mangu, surrendered with 17 cadres this week, and police displayed 18 seized weapons and Rs 12 lakh in cash along with a collective reward tag of Rs 87 lakh.
- State leaders now say roughly 96% of Bastar is free of Maoist influence, and they cite about 3,000 surrenders, nearly 2,000 arrests, and 525 neutralisations as the drivers of the collapse in cadre strength.
- More than 200 police and central force camps in remote Bastar will be handed over and repurposed into schools, hospitals, and minor forest-produce centres, which officials say will bring nearby villages steady access to care, classrooms, and local jobs.
- Forces have launched final operations before the March 31 national deadline, and official sources said a withdrawal announcement for about five CAPF battalions and some unit relocations is expected as part of an operations-and-development blueprint.
- The state is preparing a large demining push to clear hidden IEDs from forests and hamlets under an IED-free village project, with NSG and CRPF bomb teams set to lead, even as national tallies show LWE activity now concentrated in only seven districts across three states.