Gawadi. Two days before the encounter in the Naxal-affected Dantewada-Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh, Neeti, a woman member of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee, had held a meeting with the villagers of Gavadi and nearby villages and protested against the road construction and police camp there. This meeting proved to be the last meeting of 45 year old Neeti alias Urmila. Neeti alias Urmila was also among the 31 Naxalites killed in the encounter on Friday. Neeti had a bounty of Rs 25 lakh on her head and was a member of the Dandakaranya Zonal Committee, the strongest wing of the Maoists.
The security forces had taken this action on October 4 near Thulathuli and Gavadi villages located in Abujhmad area in the border of Narayanpur-Dantewada district. Thulthuli, Gavadi and surrounding villages were considered the safest hideouts for PLGA Company Number Six of the Maoists. Neeti was leading this company.
Police said that Thulathuli, Gavadi and surrounding villages are considered a safe haven for PLGA Company No. 6 of the Maoists and its command was under Neeti. PLGA Company Number Six is active at the junction of Narayanpur, Dantewada, Bijapur and Bastar districts, where Maoists often hold meetings to spread their propaganda and win over villagers to their side.
A 30-year-old villager from Gawadi village, on the condition of anonymity, said, “Neeti had held a meeting with the villagers in Gawadi two days before the encounter. His last words were to not allow the establishment of a police camp and construction of roads. We do not want roads because if roads are built then our ‘water, forest and land’ will be taken away from us.” Neeti was a resident of Irmagunda village in Gangalur area of neighboring Bijapur district. This villager, who described himself as a farmer, claimed that the security personnel had come to Gawadi twice in a year.
He told that the police interrogated the villagers during their visit and they were also interrogated. He denied any villager’s connection with Naxalites. The young man told that on the day of the encounter, he was busy in household chores after lunch, when the sounds of bullets started echoing from the hilltops in the forest.
He told that it was not an unusual sound as this is a Naxal stronghold, but when the firing continued, the villagers realized that something big had happened. A few hours later they saw that a helicopter had landed near their village to take away the injured soldier. Gradually they came to know that many Naxalites had been killed. Gawadi is one of the villages closest to the forest where the encounter took place. This is the first time after the formation of Chhattisgarh state that security forces have killed a large number of Naxalites in a single anti-Naxal operation. Gawari village of Narayanpur district falls in Thulathuli gram panchayat under Orchha development block on the border of Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra.
It is difficult to reach Gavadi situated in the forests of Abujhmad. There is no road accessible by car or bus beyond Orchha. Motorcycle is the only way to reach this village situated in the hilly area, about 30 kilometers away from Orchha, the last police station in the area. It takes at least two hours to reach here and one has to cross at least seven small rivers. There is no security camp beyond Orchha.
There are 30 families of Abujhmadia tribe in the village. The village gets mobile phone connectivity from a single telecom service provider, but the range is uncertain forcing residents to gather at a particular location to access the mobile network.
Kosru Vadde (36), another farmer from Gawadi, said that many villages in the Abujhmad area of the district have not been surveyed (as per revenue records), due to which the tribals are deprived of the benefits of various government schemes.
Farmer Vadde said that the villagers want better schools, clean drinking water and health facilities, but there are no roads. It is up to the government to arrange facilities for them without building roads. Vadde, who has dropped out of eighth grade, is the most educated person in the village. There is a primary school in Gavadi, where Vadde works as a mid-day meal cook. They have to bring ration from Orchha for themselves and the school children, which is a difficult task. He denied being threatened by the Naxalites and said that he had nothing to do with them.
Inspector General of Police of Bastar region Sundarraj P said that the presence of Maoists’ Company Number Six and Naxalites of East Bastar Division etc. on the middle hill of Gawadi, Thulathuli, Nendur and Rengawaya villages under Barsoor police station area of Dantewada district and Orchha police station area of Narayanpur district. Information was received. After the information, about 1500 DRG and Special Task Force (STF) personnel were sent from Dantewada and Narayanpur districts in anti-Naxal operation.
Sundarraj said, “Since this is the main area of Company Number Six, it is not unusual for Maoists to organize meetings of villagers. “They often hold such meetings to spread their propaganda and win the villagers over to their side.” He said that the objective of the police is to protect the people living in inaccessible forests and difficult geographical conditions and to get them out of the clutches of Maoists, so that development and peace can be established in the area. Police officials of the area said that out of the 31 Maoists killed, the police have so far identified 22 Maoists, on whom a total reward of Rs 1.67 crore was declared.