Bhubaneswar: More than 500 active Maoist supporters and sympathisers of 15 villages in Ralegada gram panchayat under Papermetla police limits in Odisha’s Swabhiman Anchal (Chitrakonda block) surrendered before Malkangiri SP Nitesh Wadhwani and BSF, DIG, Sailendra Kumar Sinha at Janbai BSF camp on Monday.
According to police sources, they used to assist the Maoists in violent activities and were involved in the killing of security forces, and civilians and were supplying all logistics to them.
They burnt down dresses and materials of the outlawed outfit and set a memorial on fire before surrendering.
Notably, Maoists had declared Swabhiman Anchal as a liberated zone and ran ‘Janatana Sarkar’ there. A total of 37 Greyhound jawans, 7 BSF personnel, 4 Odisha Police personnel and 40 innocent local tribals were gunned down by the rebels. Thousands of local villagers too left the area apprehending trouble.
The construction of the Gurupriya bridge proved to be a turning point for the area, which was a safe haven for Maoists of the Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee(AOBSZC) of the CPI (Maoist) for more than 2 decades. The special developmental packages of the state government coupled with the strategic deployment of security forces inspired the villagers to join the mainstream amid a series of developmental activities like the construction of new roads/bridges, and project to supply drinking water, and electricity to all the houses of the area. Medical facilities like Boat Ambulance and 112 Ambulance services have been started. Pisciculture is also being taken up in a big way. Many boats have been given to GPs to operate for transportation. Mobile tower installation has been taken up on a priority basis.
On June 2, 50 active Maoist supporters had surrendered before DGP, Odisha, and another 397 on June 11, the sources added.
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