JAGDALPUR: With Left-wing extremism (LWE) crushed, the camps set up by the security forces in the remote Bastar region to run anti-Naxal operations are being repurposed to serve the local population with doorstep delivery of a range of govt benefits, right from Aadhaar and ration card generation to banking and healthcare services.Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday launched this transformation journey “from security to development” – aimed at facilitating Chhattisgarh’s remote tribal communities denied access to administration and govt schemes for nearly five decades due to Maoist violence – by inaugurating the first ‘seva dera’ (service centre), named after freedom fighter Shaheed Veer Gundadhur, at Netanar village here.Gundadhur, a native of Netanar, had fought against British rule in the early years of the 20th century. “I promise that within the next one and a half years, 70 such public service camps (jan suvidha kendras) will be functional in Bastar.”The home minister added the camps would offer benefits under 371 govt schemes. Shah said Naxalism would end in the true sense only after the harm and damage it had caused to locals over five decades were completely undone in five years.”It is the responsibility of the Centre and Chhattisgarh govt to reverse this damage and bring Bastar on par with the rest of the country in terms of development,” Shah said and assured the families of Maoists who have surrendered that “your wards will return home soon, armed with suitable skills and education to lead a life of honour”.
