Cornered in Chhattisgarh, Maoists prefer to surrender in Telangana

HYDERABAD: Until recently when Maoist cadres from Chhattisgarh wanted to surrender before security forces, they often skirted the local police. Instead, they crossed the border into Telangana. In 2025, 247 Maoists surrendered before Telangana police, 99% of them were from Chhattisgarh. Only two of them were originally from Telangana.
However, it may all change with the lucrative rehabilitation package Chhattisgarh announced recently as 22 Maoists have surrendered in Sukma on Friday.
The preference for Telangana may have been triggered by the fact that 140 alleged Maoists have been killed in Chhattisgarh in 2025 so far in the aggressive push to smoke them out of their hideouts in the forests there. On different occasions in the past few months, Union home minister Amit Shah stated that it is the aim of the Centre to end the Maoist movement in the country by March 2026.
On April 10 the Chhattisgarh govt officially implemented the 'Naxalite Surrender, Victim Relief, and Rehabilitation Policy 2025', offering a slew of welfare measures for surrendered Maoists, including Rs 50,000 immediate monetary support, Rs 10,000 monthly stipend for three years, a 1,742 sft plot in urban areas or a hectare of agricultural land in rural areas, skill-based training in transit camps, and guaranteed rehabilitation within 120 days after the surrender.
A day after the implementation of the new policy, on April 11, 22 Maoists from Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh, including three area committee members (ACMs), surrendered before cops in Telangana's Mulugu district, where rehabilitation measures are not as grand as in their home state. The surrendered Maoists are offered Rs 25,000 as immediate monetary benefit, and each surrendered ACM gets Rs 4 lakh. There is no provision of land for surrendered Maoists in Telangana now.
Prior to this, on April 5 and March 14, 86 Maoists, including 20 women and 64 men, surrendered before Bhadradri-Kothagudem police. On Jan 18, 22 Maoists, majority from the Guthi Koya tribe, surrendered in the same districts, most of them from Chhattisgarh.
Telangana inspector general of police Chandrasekhar Reddy said an immediate cash reward of Rs 25,000 has been provided to all surrendered Maoists. In addition, a state committee member gets Rs 8 lakh, an area committee member (ACM) gets Rs 4 lakh, a party member gets Rs 1 lakh, and revolutionary people's committee (RPC) or militia members get Rs 25,000 each towards rehabilitation. "If there is a reward against the surrendered Maoists, that amount will also be given to them," the IG said.
While some of the surrendered Maoists go back to their native hamlets in Chhattisgarh, those who want to stay back in Telangana and work here are provided support by the police, Mulugu SP P Sabarish said.
According to state intelligence authorities, who are aware of the new surrender policy in the neighbouring state, the preference for Telangana is also because of the consistent Maoist surrender policy here. "In 2024, 87 Maoist cadres had surrendered in Telangana, and most of them were from here. Things changed this year. Surrendered Maoists told us that they feared for their lives in Chhattisgarh. They prefer Telangana, where safety is ensured. Chattisgarh now came up with the new surrender policy because they have the most severe Maoist problem among all the states and they want to address it. It is good if they get a good response," said a senior police officer.
"We treat the surrendered Maoists respectfully and provide proper rehabilitation. That's one reason for the increase in surrenders," Chandrasekhar Reddy added while appealing to the Maoists to join the mainstream.
According to the officers, Maoists from Chhattisgarh have good contacts with their fellow tribals settled here, and they approach the cops through such mediators. Most of them are from Bijapur and Sukma and have relatives or friends in Bhadradri-Kothagudem and Mulugu. They are familiar with Telangana's towns like Bhadrachalam, Cherla, and Kothagudem and feel at home in these areas.
State police also understand the immediate needs of Maoists who wish to surrender, as most of them suffer from various ailments due to the prolonged stay in challenging circumstances with negligible access to medical facilities.
After working for 32 years as an underground cadre, 62-year-old Somaiah alias Surender alias Satish, a native of Pambapur village in Jayashankar Bhupalpally, surrendered before the Jayashankar Bhupalpally district SP Kiran Khare on January 11. He was district committee secretary (DCS) and in charge of the agriculture wing for the CPI (Maoist) party in South Bastar.
"Maoists like Somaiah have been suffering from various health issues. We ensure proper health to all such surrendered Maoists and provide them with immediate monetary relief. Most of them do not have Aadhaar cards or bank accounts. We help them get access to these to receive monetary benefits from the state. We also help them in securing a livelihood in whichever place they prefer," said an intelligence official.
Among the surrendered Maoists, five are of the rank of divisional committee member (DCM), 11 are ACMs, 28 are party members, one is a courier, and 202 are militia.