Hyderabad, March 7 Ahead of the March 31 deadline set by the Centre, as many as 130 Maoists surrendered to Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy here on Saturday.
As part of the surrender process, the cadres handed over 124 firearms, including AK-47 rifles and over 5,200 rounds of ammunition of various calibers, the highest in recent times in the country, regarding the quality and number of weapons surrendered by the PLGA (People's Liberation Guerrilla Army).
Of the 130 surrendered Maoists, 125 are from Chhattisgarh, four are from Telangana, and one is from Andhra Pradesh, DGP B Shivadhar Reddy said.
"Now there is no Telangana state committee of Maoists. It has completely disappeared," the DGP told reporters.
The surrender of weapons has significantly weakened the operational and combat capability of the CPI (Maoist) in the region and brought an end to prolonged insurgency in the Central Regional Bureau (CRB) area, the DGP said.
The surrendered Maoists symbolically handed over their weapons to the chief minister.
The surrendered Maoists belonged to the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA), which has now completely ceased to exist, the DGP said.
Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, appealing to underground Maoists to join the mainstream, said that as many as 721 Maoists have surrendered in Telangana since January 2024.
He also said that the Central Government has granted Telangana the freedom to provide healthcare, financial assistance, and housing for the surrendered.
"I am calling upon Ganapathi, who is underground, along with the other Central Committee members, to surrender. Join the mainstream of public life and become partners in the reconstruction of Telangana," he said.
He further said that he recently met former Maoist leaders DevuJi, Damodar, and other Central Committee members, who presented some proposals, such as increasing the financial package to the surrendered ultras, and that he brought this to the notice of Amit Shah.
Asserting that the Congress government is sympathetic and positive towards the Naxalites, Reddy said that if necessary, a committee will be formed to review pending cases against the Maoists and look into the possibility of withdrawing within the limits of the law.
A total of over Rs 4.18 crore will be disbursed to all the 130 surrendered cadres, a press release from the Police said.
On February 24, top Maoist commander and the key "strategist" of the banned CPI (Maoist) outfit, Thippiri Tirupati, also known as Devuji, also surrendered to the Telangana police, after over four decades of underground life.
Besides Devuji, another central committee member, Malla Raji Reddy, and two other ultras – Bade Chokka Rao @ Jagan and Nune Narasimha Reddy @ Ganganna – also laid down their arms.
