A civil servant in a Naxal-dominated district in Madhya Pradesh shows how to stem the violence and win back the people
On the eve of India’s Independence Day, some 40 policemen at the remote outpost of Songudda, deep inside the jungles on the Madhya Pradesh-Chattisgarh border, barely slept a wink. It was not the customary vigil against Left radical violence in this Naxal-dominated area that kept them awake. It was phone calls from their families celebrating the erection of a BSNL cellphone tower in the police station the previous day.
Dispersed habitations, however, ensured that the district held very little ballot value, depriving it of political attention that would have brought funds for development. The newly launched National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) solved that problem with plenty of funds becoming available for development, provided the administration was on its toes.
The Ukwa-Lanji route passes through tribal hamlets and police outposts along a high ridge that cuts across the heart of the forest in the district. Several unpaved roads now fork off this arterial creating a network that provides easy accessibility to both people and police. That also solved BSNL’s problem of access to Songudda, which is one of the highest points on the ridge.
(This story appears in the 09 October, 2009 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)