Fifteen Maoists, including Special Zonal Committee-level member Vikas, surrendered before security personnel in Mahasamund district on Sunday, effectively dismantling the Balangir-Bargarh-Mahasamund division active along the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border.
Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma, who holds the Home portfolio, described the surrender as a significant milestone under the state’s rehabilitation policy.
“Today's rehabilitation is very important. Fifteen Naxalites from the Balangir-Bargarh-Mahasamund division have surrendered. Only 15 members were left in this division, and all of them have now laid down arms,” Sharma told reporters in Raipur.
Among those who surrendered was Vikas, a Special Zonal Committee-level member serving as secretary of the West Sub-Zonal wing of the Maoist organisation. Police said the surrendered cadres, six men and nine women, had been operating in forested areas straddling the inter-state border.
The group handed over a cache of weapons, including three AK-47 rifles, two Self-Loading Rifles (SLRs), two INSAS rifles and three .303 rifles.
Security officials indicated that contact had been established with the group on Wednesday night before the formal surrender on Sunday.
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According to official data, counter-insurgency operations in Chhattisgarh have intensified over the past two years. During this period, 532 Maoists were neutralised, more than 2,700 surrendered, and around 2,000 were arrested across the state.
The development comes amid the Centre’s stated objective to eliminate Left-Wing Extremism from the country by March 31 this year. Authorities have stepped up coordinated operations along the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border, historically considered a corridor for Maoist movement.
State officials maintain that a combination of sustained security operations and an expanded rehabilitation framework, offering financial assistance, skill development and reintegration support, has encouraged cadres to lay down arms.
With the surrender of the remaining members of the Balangir-Bargarh-Mahasamund division, security agencies view the region as significantly weakened in Maoist presence, though vigilance and combing operations continue in adjoining forest belts.
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