Red rebel turns blue warrior
'It was danger at every step when I left the organisation. Several attempts were made to kill me, but I survived each of them and fought on, with a group of 18-20 people. About 8-10 of my supporters got killed by the Maoists, but I did not lose hope and moved on with my stone crusher business. The government later banned the stone crusher business in 2017, which left me unemployed' said Om Prakash Sahu.
'During this phase, my friend Jyoti Lakra, already a fish farmer, encouraged me to take up fish farming,' said Sahu. More than 200 families of the Basia Block of Gumla are indebted to Sahu for helping them with a livelihood.
'More than 150 ex-Maoists are directly or indirectly engaged with me in fish farming' said Sahu. Locals asserted that he wore his life on his sleeves and helped drag out Maoists from the region, which brought peace to the region.
'The training given by the fisheries department proved to be a turning point in my life,' said Sahu. Later, in 2024, he received assistance under Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) for six ponds with advanced Recirculatory Aquaculture System (RAS) technology
Ishwar Gope, 42, an ex-Maoist and friend of Sahu, now harvests eight quintals of fish worth `2,50,000 annually from a government pond. Likewise, Lakhan Singh, 51, had been doing fish farming traditionally in his own pond, but after meeting Sahu, started doing it in an organised way in the five ponds he owns and is making a good profit.
Singh returned home after several years as a daily wage labourer, due to Sahu's efforts- he had to leave more than 150 acres of ancestral land when Maoist menace hit peak.
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