Chhattisgarh: People displaced due to Salwa Judum will be assisted in rehabilitation, says CM Bhupesh Baghel

People of Bastar division, forced to migrate to Telangana-Andhra Pradesh due to the Salwa Judum movement will be assisted in rehabilitation if they want to return to their land, said Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel while having interaction with a delegate of displaced people at his official residence on Monday. The delegation came from Telangana.

Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has promised that those people of Chhattisgarh who migrated to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh after being displaced from Bastar, Sukma, Bijapur, Dantewada during Salwa Judum, will be wholeheartedly welcomed by Chhattisgarh Government if they decide to come back.

The State Government will chalk out an action plan to create a conducive environment for their rehabilitation, the CM said.

Members of this delegation were the people who had migrated from Sukma, Bijapur and Dantewada districts of Chhattisgarh to Telangana during the Salwa Judum movement.

Industries Minister Kawasi Lakhma, Chhattisgarh State Scheduled Tribes Commission Chairman Bhanupratap Singh were also present on the occasion.

The people who desire to come back to Chhattisgarh will be provided all kinds of basic facilities including ration shops, school, employment, along with the land, the CM said.

Notably, in 2005 then the ruling state government provided arms to the tribal to counter Naxal menace. It was also called as a government-backed "people's resistance movement."

Unfortunately, ongoing conflict compelled the tribals to leave their villages and a horrible mass exodus took place.

It has been said, during the Salwa Judum movement more than 55,000 tribals from 644 villages had left their homes and not returned. Those villages were vacant till that time.