Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India], April 17 (HBTV): Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai on Saturday credited his government's rehabilitation initiatives for the surrender of 1,314 Naxalites, declaring that Naxalism is now ‘breathing its last’ in the state.

Speaking at the Vichaar for Viksit Chhattisgarh conclave, Sai said the state government has arranged nearly 15,000 accommodations under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) for those who have surrendered and joined the mainstream.

‘About 1,314 Naxalites have surrendered, and the government is doing justice to them. We have separately arranged 15,000 Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana for them. We keep them in the district headquarters, and we are also working on their skill development so that they can get some employment. We also give them jobs in third and fourth classes of government organisations as per their qualification,’ the CM told ANI at the event.

Sai said that immediately after coming to power, the government appealed to Naxalites to shun violence and become part of the development process. The government also sent Chhattisgarh Home Minister Vijay Sharma to various states, including Assam, to study their rehabilitation models.

The chief minister asserted that Naxalism is nearing its end in the state, with only a few cadres remaining. He added that around 359 Naxalites carrying large bounties had been killed over the last one and a half years.

‘Naxalism is now breathing its last in Chhattisgarh. Very few of them are left now. In 1.5 years, about 359 Naxalites with huge rewards on them, hardcore Naxalites, have been killed. I am fully confident that the resolution of the Union Home Minister will definitely be fulfilled,’ Sai said.

He noted that while earlier the public had more trust in Naxalites than in the government, the situation has reversed over the past year and a half.

‘We have started the Niyad Nellanar Yojana, which means Aapka Sundar Gaon. Security camps are being opened continuously. Naxalites run away from all the villages that come within a five-kilometre radius of the camp. Earlier, people trusted the Naxalites more than the government. But the way the government is working—for the last 1.5 years—the public's trust in us has increased,’ he said.

(ANI)