The car cannot move forward. A village in the interiors of the district, from Narayanpur district headquarters to Garpa, is forced to close a suddenly 15 km before the destination. The sedan made for the city roads and a comfortable traffic, cannot navigate through a man Murum (Red gravel) route. Prithvi Movers, Truck and Tractor Pass nearby. Like many other villages in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, Garp, till last year, was inaccessible to the district administration, as it was controlled by the Maoists.
Mahu Potai inside the car is the main link for the secretary of Garp village Panchayat and the administration of Chhattisgarh. During the commute it takes more than an hour, he is discussing the incremental changes in Garpa and other villages, which dott this stretch of the road running through the Abujamad forests. In Bastar, the Maoists have been in conflict with the Indian state for the last five decades.
Potai threw a pinch about the irony of getting stuck, now the Maoists are not blockade on the streets but seeing nature. He discusses the better security situation and the benefits made from the obstacles that remain “like this interruption”.
This route – which will serve as a base for one Paved Road to connect Narayanpur with Kankar districts – six months ago a security camp has come here after the establishment of a security camp. Its construction has reduced the daily traffic of potis on a bike from about five hours to two, and has also helped the villagers to reach services and benefits that they first remember or demand from fear of Maoists. Now the government has five pockets to the people, and the administration calls these areas “access”.
The large -scale tribal administrative division of Bastar includes seven districts including Narayanpur. It is here that the security forces have launched an aggressive campaign, with more than 425 alleged Maoists since December 2023. Earlier in 2025, Home Minister Amit Shah said on social media that by March 2026, all Naxalites will be ‘erased’.
In 1967, the Left extremism in India began with a communist-inspired farmer rebellion against feudal landlords in Naxalry, West Bengal. Later, the movement expanded to Eastern and other regions of Central India, and these areas were called the Red Corridor. The Naxal reason expanded himself to include all kinds of oppression, which included what they saw as an engraving of tribal rights by mining corporations.
A ‘kidnapped’ work
Narayanpur consists of two blocks: Narayanpur and Orchha. The orkha, of which the Garpa village is a part, has spread geographically more, but the population is about 41,000, the administration says. Of the 377 villages, 133 are still inaccessible to them. The family living in one of the barely reaching villages should run for four days in the market for basic provisions. The distances are measured here how many hills should be crossed to reach their destination. Officials say that the upcoming census census practice will be a difficult task in these areas.
The area and the scattered population become expensive to the people. “We have to use money in a cost-effective way. For example, the government is in a strangeness to balance its financial and social obligations, when 10 families as residents of a population demands a new road as 10 families, which will cost around ₹ 1 crore for construction,” Saying the Chief Executive Officer of District Panchayat.
In Narayanpur district, 133 villages are still inaccessible to the government due to their rough areas. , Photo Credit: Shubomoy Alexander
The objective of the Chhattisgarh government’s ‘Niad Nalenar’ scheme is to increase basic facilities and welfare benefits within the 10-km of new camps set up in Maoist affected areas. The word ‘camp’ means two different things in the settlement: established for a safety, where the forces live; Another, tents and counters temporarily established people to take advantage of welfare schemes. When the first is established, the second follows.
Kalyan camps have a careful idea action plan. “We have to be very cautious about choosing which people will be acceptable because we cannot compromise on life. For example, people from the Health Department and Forest Department walk because they are also working with the villagers in the past,” says the Principal Secretary of both the Panchayat Department and Rural Development of the State Government. His department coordinates the distribution of the Niad Nalenar scheme.
Niad Nalnar involves all eligible beneficiaries of the state government schemes at both personal and community levels.
Potai says that distributing them in Hitharto uncontrolled areas leads to much talked about challenges.
“A cash assistance scheme such as Mahatri Vandan Yojana, under which women are eligible for Ora 1,000 every month. But they have to go to Narayanpur 52 km in a bus, which will spend them more than ₹ 200 and there is a provision to send money to the nearest post office, but it is a need for a mobile phone that will not require many people.” The bus service is also new, so the villagers are not yet used to take it.
Road less travel
In another part of Narayanpur – it is 60% Abujamad or Maad, a dense, one -sided forest area, which is spread over Bastar and Gadchiroli in Maharashtra – Kasturmeta village. Here, a Dharti Aba Janjati Village Utsh Abhiyan (Dajua) camp is being organized on weekly haat or market day, when people are expected to converge. Dajgua 25 Central Government schemes are spread over 17 ministries.
Kasturmeta is on another “access” where new camps have been set up. Its strategic importance lies in the fact that in the last one year, camps from east to west connected Narayanpur to Maharashtra through 130D National Highway and divided the district horizontally. On 16 July, according to the National Highway Authority of India website, bids for road construction at the final stretch from Kutul to Nilangur on the Maharashtra border.
The south of Kasturmeta still has security vacuum areas. It was in this vacuum area that Nambala Keshav Rao alias Basavaraju, general secretary of the banned CPI (Maoist), was closed by security forces in Chhattisgarh on 21 May. It was seen as one of the biggest successes against leftist extremism in the country.
Various departments of central and state governments set up a photo credit for setting up camps in weekly markets to offer services or schemes: Shubomoy Alexander
The Kasturmeta camp is another in the district where various departments have established their booths. Men in Lungis, women carrying infants, the elderly catch an ax, engaged in the discussion with the authorities. This place is accompanied by activity, but the authorities expected better turnout.
Janpad Sharma, the CEO of Janpad (a government official) says, “The target population is about 1,500, with residents of 5–10 km villages to come here. We expected at least 500, but only 100 have come. Lack of awareness, fear, all play a role.” The sowing season also keeps some distance away. Although there are camps in many parts, they are still sensitive, from the security point of view.
Those who stand to achieve, they note. Sonmati Podiyami, who is particularly weak from the tribal group, says Abuj Maria Tribe, “I am running from Kalmanar Panchayat. My house (4-5 km) is away. I am here to get Aadhaar card for the birth certificate of my newborn.”
Camps learn from camps
Once when government employees started meeting people, they realized that there was little demand for schools. However, there was a demand for ration, health facilities and houses under the Pradhan Mantri Avas Yojana-Gramin.
It is not easy to construct brick-and-mortar houses here. Rajesh Usi, a 32 -year -old farmer, says that he has applied for a house and has received a total of 2 lakhs which the government provides as aid. “But the challenge is receiving construction material from Narayanpur. Seven tractor trips are to be made, and the cost of each trip is IS 3,000. It takes about half aid in transportation,” they say.
Availability of skilled laborers is another issue. Inspector General of Bastar P. Sundararaj says that in skill development programs being run for the surrendered Maoists, there is a plan to introduce the construction and telecom tower-making training programs so that whatever they learn during rehabilitation are more relevant to the region. A cloud monsoon smell of Mahua Lingaers, around the Haat next to the camp in the afternoon. A group of youth addresses each other with a red salute (red salute) and then chatted in uniforms with a security forces.
Build a Aadhaar Card
For those areas that have been out of the scope of the government, and still getting ration and some underdeveloped health services, some challenges are sufficient for the authorities. Khalkho shares an example, where in some internal villages, people had an Aadhaar card in 2011-12, but do not have a document. “Now that we try to form the base to allow them to reach other features, we find a repetition problem. We send them to the UIDAI portal to remove the discrepancy, but the process can take anywhere for four to six weeks, everything else is delayed,” she says.
Another problem is connectivity. “Garpa and beyond areas are non-elevated and telecommunications network connectivity either poor or non-existence. In a particular case, we had to phering out an entire village at an entire village at 25 km to get through this process,” says Potai.
Last electrified village route for Garpa village. , Photo Credit: Shubomoy Alexander
Between Greenshoots, Khalkho says, are people coming forward to ask for services themselves and claim their rights, shed the fear incurred by the Maoists. “People came from Thulthuli at the end of last year. It was near the area where 38 Maoists were killed last year. They were looking for work under the NREGA scheme,” she says.
She says that the government approved the construction of a pond in June. “We asked him whether there would be any problem if our (administration) people visited these villages, and they asked us to make any contact through the local sarpanch. Initially, they had to get permission from the Maoists to get any approval; then there was a vacuum after the encounter. It took them a few months to reach us,” Khalko said.
shubhomoy.s@thehindu.co.in
Edited by Sunlini Matthew
