Bastar Set To Be Made Most Developed Tribal Region By 2030: Shah
Things are now changing very fast in Bastar as sounds of bullets have replaced the sounds of bells of the schools, and “Lal Salam” has been replaced by the slogan of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, he said
Raipur: Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday pledged to transform Chhattisgarh’s Bastar, pushed to backwardness because of decades long Leftwing extremism, as the most developed tribal region in the country.
Addressing the closing ceremony of the Bastar Olympics-2025 at Jagdalpur, headquarters of Bastar, Mr. Shah said that the Leftwing insurgency had cast a shadow over Bastar for decades, pushing it to backwardness and misery.
“We had resolved to eradicate red terror in the country completely by March 31, 2026 and today, at the Bastar Olympics- 2025, we stand at the cusp of achieving it”, he said.
Mr. Shah said that he had attended the closing ceremonies of the first and second editions of Bastar Olympics in 2024 and 2025 respectively, and asserted that he would attend the concluding ceremony of third edition of Bastar Olympics, scheduled to be held in November-December 2026.
By then, Bastar will be free of Naxalism, he added.
“We must not stop here, we should rather ensure that the Bastar division comprising the seven districts of Kanker, Kondagaon, Bastar, Sukma, Bijapur, Narayanpur, and Dantewada, transforms as the most developed tribal region in the country by 2030”, he pledged.
He said that Bastar had been deprived of basic infrastructures like road, electricity, drinking water, schools and healthcare for the last few decades because of the Leftwing extremism.
Things are now changing very fast in Bastar as sounds of bullets have replaced the sounds of bells of the schools, and “Lal Salam” has been replaced by the slogan of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, he said.
Around 1.65 lakh people of Bastar had participated in the Bastar Olympics- 2024 and in the Bastar Olympics- 2025, the number of participants had grown to two and half times to 3.91 lakh which included more than two lakh women, he said.
“I personally feel very happy to see participation of more than 700 surrendered Naxals participating in these games”, he said.
He said that post Maoism, it is our government’s resolve to provide every person in Bastar with a house, electricity, toilet, drinking water through tap, cooking gas, five kg of food grains and free medical treatment up to five lakhs.
Units based on cooperatives will be set up for processing forest produce, and the dairy sector will be developed in each district of Bastar division to produce the best quality milk in the country.
He indicated that a special scheme will be introduced to combat malnutrition.
“We are determined to end Naxalism because Leftwing extremism is sitting like a cobra spreading its hood over the development of the region”, he said.
He appealed to the Naxals to give up arms and join the mainstream of development by opting for the rehab package.
“Maoism benefits nobody, only peace can pave the way for development”, he added.