From the ground | From guns to mines: Life of former Naxals in Maharshtra's Gadchiroli

Gadchiroli: Early in the morning there is hustle-bustle in the Navjeevan Colony in the Gadchiroli district headquarters. A group of men and women are getting ready for work. They get into a bus which passes through dense forest and takes them sixty kilometres away to Konsari in Chamorshi tehsil to the high-tech modern steel plant of Lloyds Metal and Energy Ltd (LMEL).

Here, they work and come back to Gadchiroli tehsil-town in the evening.

These are the group of once Naxals, who have come out of the shadows of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), and joined the mainstream as part of Maharashtra government’s surrender-cum-rehabilitation policy.

Bordering Telangana and Chhattisgarh, the Gadchiroli district was once a stronghold of Naxals, however, now only a handful of them remain.

The iron ore for the Konsari plant comes from the Surajgarh Iron Ore Mines at Hedri in the Etapalli tehsil. Around 70-plus surrendered Naxalites work in Konsari steel manufacturing plant in shifts - and they are a highly motivated lot.

Among them is Suresh Chamru Hichami, who is in his forties. “I joined in 1999 and left in 2007,” said Hichami, who used to work as a courier during his Maoism days. “My sister got married to a policeman. They started suspecting me. However, I thought it is better to join the mainstream….now I work and lead a normal life,” he said.

Now in his thirties, Govinda Samji Atla joined the Naxals in his teens. “I left the ashram-shala after some boys told me about the movement…I joined them. I underwent training, was given uniform…I handled carbines and AK-47. After a few years, I thought that this was not leading me anywhere…I came back and now leading a normal life,” said Govinda.

On the other hand, Pramila Bogha got into Dalam after watching street plays of the Maoist cadres. “I used to go to villages, speak about jal-jangal-jameen,” said Pramila, who works in a canteen.

Janu Sainu Hedu, who now works in the canteen, did the sentry duties in a company. “I did many kinds of duties while I was part of the Maoist movement,” she said, adding that circumstances and health issues led her to join the mainstream.

Over the past one year, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is also the state’s Home Minister, has personally given a call to the Maoist outlaws to join the mainstream.

Director General of Police Rashmi Shukla, who will hang up her boots in the next few days, over the past couple of years in the top job, had visited Gadchiroli half a dozen times.

In fact, LMEL Managing Director B Prabhakaran has consistently focused on local employment generation and skill development.

The company implemented a skill-based rehabilitation model - where the participants were trained at the Lloyds Skill Development and Training Centre in Konsari, acquiring relevant technical and operational skills before joining the company’s workforce.

Gadchiroli’s Collector Avishyant Panda said Left Wing Extremism (LWE) will be a thing of the past. “There is a sense of security among the locals. A lot of Naxalites have surrendered. Many of them are working in Lloyds plant in Konsari. In fact, the LMEL has committed that they will take in more people if needed,” he said.

Gadchiroli’s Superintendent of Police Neelotpal said that the surrender of CPI (Maoist) Politburo member and part of Central Military Commission, Malloujula Venugopal Rao alias Sonu aka Bhupathi, who called the shots along the Chhattisgarh-Maharashtra-Telangana Red Corridor, has been a major turning point. “His appeal has gone out…in fact, many have surrendered who will be rehabilitated…many want to surrender…we will take care of them as per the government’s policy,” he said.

About the surrendered Naxals who work in Konsari, LMEL Vice President (Corporate Services) Colonel S K Mahapatra (Retd), said, “Let me tell you…they are very sincere, disciplined and committed.”