Barely a few months away from the Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s red terror deadline set for March 2026 to make the country free from Naxals, ultra left wing operators are on the run.

Either they were getting killed in ‘ encounter’ or surrendering before the long arms of the law signalling a revolutionary change taking place in Naxal infested area of the country.

In the latest case,as many as 22 Naxalites, 12 of them carrying a cumulative bounty of Rs 40.5 lakh, surrendered before security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district on Friday, PTI quotes police as saying.

The ultra left cadres, including nine women, turned themselves in before senior officials of the police and Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF), citing disappointment with “hollow” and “inhuman” Maoist ideology and atrocities on local tribals, PTI reports quoting Sukma Superintendent of Police Kiran Chavan as having said.

The Chhattisgarh government’s ‘Niyad Nellanar’ (your good village) scheme, aimed at facilitating development works in remote villages, and the new surrender and rehabilitation policy.

The surrendered Naxalites were learnt to be active in the Maad (Chhattisgarh) and Nuapada (Odisha) divisions of Maoists.

As per Chavan’s statement, the surrendered cadres included Muchaki Joga (33), deputy commander in PLGA (people’s liberation guerrilla army) company no. 1 under Maad division of Maoists, and his wife Muchaki Jogi (28), a member of the same squad, who carried a reward of Rs 8 lakh each.

Among the others were Kikid Deve (30) and Manoj alias Dudhi Budhra (28), both area committee members of Maoists carrying a reward of Rs 5 lakh each, he said.

Reports said seven surrendered cadres carried a bounty of Rs 2 lakh each, while another Naxalite carried a reward of Rs 50,000.

The other surrendered cadres were also allegedly involved in multiple attacks on security forces.

The district police, District Reserve Guard (DRG), CRPF, and its elite unit CoBRA played a crucial role in their surrender,reports said.

All the surrendered Naxalites were provided assistance of Rs 50,000 each and will be further rehabilitated as per the government’s policy, he said.

Last year, 792 Naxalites had surrendered in the Bastar region, comprising seven districts, including Sukma.