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The Print
2 days ago
- Business
- The Print
Lloyds Metals to invest Rs 40k cr more in Gadchiroli
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is also the guardian minister of the district, inaugurated a 90-km pipeline and a pellet plant built by the company in Gadchiroli earlier in the day. The law and order situation in the eastern Maharashtra district impacted by Left Wing Extremism (LWE) is improving, and attempts are essential to mainstream the youth, its managing director B Prabhakaran told PTI over the phone. Mumbai, Jul 22 (PTI) Lloyds Metals and Steel is targeting to invest over Rs 40,000 crore to develop a steel plant and other units in Vidarbha's Gadchiroli district over the next five years, a top official said on Tuesday. 'We have a Rs 45,000 crore investment plan for the district, of which Rs 5,000 crore has already been invested,' Prabhakaran, who calls himself the 'managing director in residence', said. When asked how it will fund the capital expenditure in Gadchiroli, Prabhakaran said it will depend on internal accruals and also raise fresh funds if need be. He reminded that last year, it had raised over Rs 4,000 crore from a qualified institutional placement of shares. At present, the company's assets in the district include an iron ore mine in Surjagad, and the upcoming investments include a Rs 15,000 crore 'beneficiation plant', having a capacity of 45 million tonnes per annum and Rs 22,000 crore for a steel plant with a 4.5 million tonnes capacity, he added. Prabhakaran said the company will be investing up to Rs 5,000 crore per annum from here on, he said, adding that the overall employment generated by Lloyds will triple to 30,000 by the end of the investment cycle. Things are 'slowly changing' in the district, he said, adding that an already existing iron ore mine has been secured, using equipment of the kind used by the US in Afghanistan. With a history of protests like the ones in Surjagad, Prabhakaran said the company is focusing on taking the local community, which explains investments in hospitals and schools locally. He said nearly all the staff of the company have an equity stake in the company. The concession for the mine was signed over 15 years ago, but operations began only after 2021, he said, blaming the Naxalite problem in the intervening time. PTI AA BAL BAL This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Maoists urged to surrender as LWE activities decline in ASR region
Rajahmundry: Left Wing Extremist (LWE) activities have significantly declined in the Alluri Sitarama Raju (ASR) district, largely due to sustained and intensive developmental efforts undertaken by the government. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now As a result, tribal development has taken center stage in the region. Assistant superintendent of police (ASP) Rampachodavaram, G Sai Prashanth, stated, "It has come to our notice that a few individuals and organisations have made unfounded and baseless allegations concerning the operations conducted against LWE elements, particularly regarding the Exchange of Fire (EOF) that occurred on June 18, 2025, in the Kintukuru area. We categorically refute all such allegations." He clarified that the location of the said EOF is a dense forest area, far from any civilian habitation, and that no civilian casualties occurred. The encounter ensued when police teams came under gunfire from armed Maoists. All procedures mandated for an independent and impartial investigation post-encounter were followed diligently and within the prescribed timelines. The ASP appealed to underground cadres and Maoist sympathisers to abandon violence and take advantage of the government's surrender and rehabilitation schemes. He emphasised the police's commitment to ensuring a dignified reintegration of such individuals into mainstream society.
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Business Standard
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Lloyds Metals aims to invest over ₹40,000 crore more in Gadchiroli
Lloyds Metals and Steel is targeting to invest over ₹40,000 crore to develop a steel plant and other units in Vidarbha's Gadchiroli district over the next five years, a top official said on Tuesday. The law and order situation in the eastern Maharashtra district impacted by Left Wing Extremism (LWE) is improving, and attempts are essential to mainstream the youth, its managing director B Prabhakaran told PTI over the phone. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is also the guardian minister of the district, inaugurated a 90-km pipeline and a pellet plant built by the company in Gadchiroli earlier in the day. "We have a ₹45,000 crore investment plan for the district, of which ₹5,000 crore has already been invested," Prabhakaran, who calls himself the 'managing director in residence', said. When asked how it will fund the capital expenditure in Gadchiroli, Prabhakaran said it will depend on internal accruals and also raise fresh funds if need be. He reminded that last year, it had raised over ₹4,000 crore from a qualified institutional placement of shares. At present, the company's assets in the district include an iron ore mine in Surjagad, and the upcoming investments include a ₹15,000 crore 'beneficiation plant', having a capacity of 45 million tonnes per annum and ₹22,000 crore for a steel plant with a 4.5 million tonnes capacity, he added. Prabhakaran said the company will be investing up to ₹5,000 crore per annum from here on, he said, adding that the overall employment generated by Lloyds will triple to 30,000 by the end of the investment cycle. Things are "slowly changing" in the district, he said, adding that an already existing iron ore mine has been secured, using equipment of the kind used by the US in Afghanistan. With a history of protests like the ones in Surjagad, Prabhakaran said the company is focusing on taking the local community, which explains investments in hospitals and schools locally. He said nearly all the staff of the company have an equity stake in the company. The concession for the mine was signed over 15 years ago, but operations began only after 2021, he said, blaming the Naxalite problem in the intervening time.
India Today
3 days ago
- Politics
- India Today
How Gadchiroli moved on from rifle bore to iron ore
Today, when trains halt at Chandrapur and Ballarpur (formerly Balharshah) stations in eastern Maharashtra's Vidarbha region, passengers often get down on the quiet platforms to grab a cup of tea with vada paos and freshly fried banana is a stark contrast to how things used to be here just a decade ago — platforms had hardly any shops, and passengers rarely opened their coach doors. It's because Chandrapur, which borders the Maoism-hit district of Gadchiroli, was once equally scarred by Left-Wing Extremism (LWE).advertisementInterestingly, Gadchiroli, a hotbed of Maoist activity, was carved out of the larger Chandrapur district back in 1982. Chandrapur has been an industrial town since the 1970s — rich in coal mines, with a ferro alloy plant and a super-thermal power station. Most importantly, its neighbouring district has been Nagpur, a significant mainstream the other hand, Gadchiroli, equally rich in natural resources such as iron ore and forest produce, was defined more by its 76% forest cover, and its proximity to Chhattisgarh's Bastar region, India's most dangerous Maoist fact, until the late 2000s, Chandrapur was severely affected by LWE. But today, only sporadic incidents are reported, and the district no longer features among the Union Home Ministry's 38 LWE-affected after sunset, when trains pass through the Chandrapur-Ballarpur stretch, windows and doors remain shut due to the lingering fear of eyes watching from the surrounding fear stems from an incident that remains fresh in people's minds. Around 50 masked Maoists attempted to set a Mumbai-bound passenger train on fire in Chandrapur in up of railway tracks using dynamite was also common in the until a decade ago, this fear persisted even during the day. But today, just about 80 kilometres from Gadchiroli, when passengers step off the train, it signals an improvement not only in the law-and-order situation but also in the overall security perception of the progress appears to be spilling over into neighbouring Gadchiroli as well.A BEACON OF HOPE FORGED IN IRON OREToday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will inaugurate the first phase of a 5-Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA) iron ore grinding plant and a 10 MTPA slurry pipeline project at Hedri in Gadchiroli – the first operational iron ore slurry pipeline in the state, giving a much-needed infrastructural and industrial boost to the ore mining began in Gadchiroli's Surjagarh area in 2016, but the new iron ore beneficiation plant is the first dedicated facility of its kind in a district where the economy is primarily driven by forest produce and will also lay the foundation stone for several projects in the Maoist insurgency-affected region, including a 4.5 MTPA integrated steel plant at Konsari, a 100-bed multi-speciality hospital, a school, and the 116-acre Lloyds Township. Lloyds is India's leading iron ore bringing development to a region hasn't been 2010 to 2020, over 50 security personnel have lost their lives here. But there are positive signs too. Not a single fatality from among the security forces has been reported since 2020 in Gadchiroli, only the Gadchiroli Police's elite C-60 commandos, backed by CRPF units and drone surveillance, are disrupting Maoist networks with more force than ever MAOISTS SURRENDERED IN HORDES IN MAHARASHTRAOver the last five years, more than 70 Maoists, with a collective bounty of Rs 2.8 crore, have surrendered in Gadchiroli primary reason for this has been disillusionment with Maoist ideology. Additionally, the Surrender and Rehabilitation policy, which offers an immediate grant of Rs 5 lakh for higher-ranked LWE cadres, and Rs 2.5 lakh for middle/lower-ranked cadres per surrender, has also seemingly served as a major 2005, as many as 704 Maoists have surrendered in to officials, only 40 Maoist cadres remain on record and just 24 are active armed cadres in Gadchiroli, according to intelligence sources, reported The Indian Express in recent surrenders include that of Vimala Chandra Sidam, who had a bounty of Rs 25 lakh and gave herself up in January this year, and Nangsu Tumaretti, who surrendered last year with a bounty of Rs 41 of the biggest blows to the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) came in 2021, when top fugitive commander Milind Teltumbde, brother of noted academic and writer Anand Teltumbde, was among 26 Maoists killed in an encounter in Gadchiroli. A central committee member of the CPI (Maoist), Teltumbde carried a bounty of Rs 50 2021, security forces have neutralised at least 56 Maoists in encounters in all comes amid Union Home Minister Amit Shah's declared deadline to end Maoism by March 31, IN GADCHIROLI IS A SLOW BURNThese successes are largely credited to the fact that Gadchiroli has mostly had influential or firebrand leaders as its guardian ministers. Over the past 25 years, the district has been overseen by former Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil, former CM (now Deputy CM) Eknath Shinde, senior Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar, and current CM Devendra has been a significant contribution from the people too. It must be noted that in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections, Gadchiroli recorded the second-highest voter turnout in the state at 73.68%, surpassing Mumbai (52.07%) and Pune (60.7%), showing the region's strong engagement with the democratic BJP's Milind Ramji Narote is the MLA from of now, according to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Maoist insurgency in Maharashtra is limited to just two districts, Gadchiroli and claim in June, however, raised eyebrows as Fadnavis had declared part of Gadchiroli, particularly the northern part of the district, "free of Maoist activities" over five months ago and asserted south Gadchiroli would also soon be rid of the Maoist the latest groundwork for one of the most significant development projects in this Maoist-affected district may change the region's development projects come shortly after the state government passed the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill, aimed at combating LWE and "urban Maoism". Introduced in the Assembly by Fadnavis himself, the law empowers the state to declare organisations unlawful, seize their assets, and impose prison terms ranging from 2 to 7 years for involvement in such INITIATIVES HAVE PLAYED A BIG ROLESeveral other initiatives also signal change in the Red the unique "Ek Gaon, Ek Granthalaya" ("One Village, One Library") programme, 71 libraries have been set up over the past two years, enroling more than 8,000 students and providing access to books and learning resources in remote May, Gadchiroli got Maharashtra's first state-of-the-art inflatable theatre. The facility features an air-conditioned auditorium, Dolby 5.1 surround sound, and push-back seating, with tickets priced at Rs 100, offering residents a modern cinema experience amid have been quiet contributors too. In the midst of insurgency, individuals like Dr Abhay and Dr Rani Bang have been providing low-cost healthcare to both tribals and local community since the by insurgency, their NGO, SEARCH (Society for Education, Action and Research in Community Health), based in Shodhgram, Gadchiroli, has been pioneered maternal and child health. They train tribal women to deliver neonatal care, and have significantly reduced infant mortality in the bamboo economy offers hope for the region. Reports suggest that villages like Mendha Lekha have benefited through direct sales of bamboo, bypassing middlemen and boosting farmers' incomes. The Forest Rights Act, 2006, which enables tribal villagers to harvest and sell bamboo directly, is proving successful in certain villages of Gadchiroli a region that has been gripped by the roots of Red terror for decades, change may be slow. But the much-needed push for infrastructure signals a potential turning education, and healthcare in the hinterland could further weaken the ideological hold of Maoist groups.- Ends
Hindustan Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
300 phone towers set up in Bastar villages
The Centre and the state have set up at least 300 cell phone towers in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region across villages that have been freed from Maoist control in the last one year, officials aware of the matter said on Sunday. 300 phone towers set up in Bastar villages Cell phone towers are a major point of contention between the security forces and the Maoist groups. For the government, setting up towers is a strategic priority. For the Maoists,destroying them is equally important. People aware of the matter added that at least 32 such cell phone towers were installed specifically within Abhujmad — a dense forest of around 5,000 sq km spread across Maoist-affected districts of Bastar region. This is where the last fight with armed Maoist cadres is underway — six Maoists were killed in a gunfight on Friday. Security forces have in the last one year entered parts of Abhujmad, which had never been mapped before and was controlled by Maoists all these years. A senior security officer posted in Chhattisgarh said,'These 300 cell phone towers installed in Bastar zone in the last one year or so were in areas which were planned on paper but government authorities could not enter due to security concerns. The government has said that after taking control of villages from Naxals and setting up camps, cell phone towers along with hospitals are the first priority.' Installing cell phone towers in areas freed from Maoist control is a priority for the state government and the home ministry to connect villagers with the government, who were cut off and lived under Maoist influence for the last 4-5 decades. The armed Maoist cadres, who are putting up a fight, make it their priority to destroy and burn such towers. Just five days ago, Maoists burnt one such tower in a village in Narayanpur district and killed two civilians in the same area. In the last one year, there have been at least four notable cases of Maoist setting fire to such towers. A second officer said that the forces are setting up towers near the security camps to avoid it being destroyed by the left-wing extremists. 'Towers have been set up next to camps such as Kasturmeta, Kacchapal. Naxals also want to destroy towers because they think civilians inform security forces of their movement.' The officer said installing cell phone towers is also necessary because villagers are returning to their homes that have been freed from Maoist control. Some time in mid-November last year, the security forces set up a cell phone tower at the Garpa village in Narayanpur district, also within Abhujmad. The tower was set up within three weeks of the forces establishing a camp in the village on November 6 , 2024. 'After villages are being taken over by forces, many people who had left fearing the Naxals are returning. In Garpa alone, some 300 people have returned to their houses. These are villagers who had left their homes 10-15 years ago when LWE was at its peak. They will benefit from the cell phone connectivity. Not only will they be able to communicate with their families but also be connected with the government through the phones,' the second official said. The state government has planned to have at least 79 additional towers in the LWE areas of Chhattisgarh. Overall the home ministry had identified 10,511 places in LWE areas across different states, of which nearly 8,000 towers have been installed.
