Bastar: A Special Task Force Camp Converted into a Tourist Resort Employs Surrendered Maoists

Bastar, Chhattisgarh

Jalandhar Nag’s ambition to join the police force remained a dream. Forced to join the Maoists at the tender age of 10, Nag said that he spent a decade fetching water, cooking and cleaning at Maoist camps deep in the forests of Chhattisgarh.

“The ultras forced us to join them. We had no other option but to leave our families. We received no money for our work; only meals and a place to sleep in the open jungle,” Nag, who is 26 years old now, told Gaon Connection.

He and his childhood friend Suman Kashyap, surrendered to the government in 2016, applied for a job in the police force at Bodhghat, Jagdalpur, but did not make the cut. They both worked briefly as labourers in Hyderabad. Life was hard there and they lived in a hut on Rs 300 a day.

“We wanted to be back in Bastar. We didn’t have phones and sometimes borrowed from others to talk at home,” Kashyap said. Nag and Kashyap are from Pushpal village in Lohandiguda block in Bastar district, Chhattisgarh, infamous for Maoist insurgency.

They got a chance when they found employment closer home. Nag and Kashyap now run a tourist resort in Lohandiguda block of Bastar. A Special Task Force (STF) camp called Indravati, has been converted into a tourist resort and was handed over to the tourism department in June 2022. According to the locals and some of the tourists in the area, staying in this area or even visiting was unthinkable even a few years ago. Insurgency had waned compared to what it was some years ago, they said.

Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel inaugurated the resort in August 2022.

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The resort is located five kilometres away from the picturesque Chitrakote waterfalls. Of the eight employees there, five are like Nag and Kashyap, victims of insurgency. Nag and Kashyap earn Rs 9,500 a month each, cooking and preparing meals for the tourists. They visit their village only rarely and that too only in the daytime as they fear reprisal from the Maoists.

“I would ideally like to be with my parents helping them harvest the paddy, but here I am cooking rice, dal and chicken for the guests,” Kashyap said. “I badly wanted to escape [from the Maoists camps]. After the surrender, I received Rs 10,000 from the government. While I like working here, I miss my brothers, one of whom is in high school. He will have a better future than me,” Kashyap hoped.

The Chhattisgarh government’s surrender policy absorbs many youth in the police force as constables, or offers them other employment depending on their capabilities.

“Some do not want to be in the police due to family reasons. They are offered jobs in the civil department. We try to offer them livelihood in any capacity as we can,” Jitendra Singh Meena, senior superintendent of police Jagdalpur, Bastar, told Gaon Connection. The SP also added that 659 Naxals have surrendered in Bastar district between 2000 and 2022. And, Rs 54,40,000 has been spent in rehabilitating them.

According to a top level government official, who did not wish to be named, “ With the waning of Naxalism in Bastar, the STF camp was vacated and later converted into an employment initiative where priority was given to surrendered Naxals or those affected by Naxalite violence,” he told Gaon Connection.

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A new life

Kashyap and Nag received a fortnight’s training in cooking and serving, at the Dandami Luxury Resort near Chitrakote waterfall, also run by the tourism department.

“In Naxal camps cooking isn’t so fancy. We cooked in big vessels over the fire and served without any frills,” Kashyap told Gaon Connection. “Now I have to add spices, condiments and oil and ensure it is tasty,” he smiled.

There are eight rooms at the Indravati STF resort, enough to host up to 30 guests at a time. The room rent stands at Rs 2,000 - Rs 3,000. Food in the form of breakfast, lunch and dinner cost Rs 150- Rs 350.

“The resort is a great place to stay for visitors who want to be near the historic Narayanpal temple and the Chitrakote waterfall. Even Michnar, a well-known sunset point, is nearby,” Ramnarayan Tiwari, tourist officer, Chhattisgarh tourism board, told Gaon Connection.

“The STF camp-turned resort is well organised. The cottages have been built in a way to guarantee privacy and safety. The food is excellent and we enjoyed the campfires. I stayed with my family for four days in November,” Piyush Usrete, a tourist who came from in Nagpur, Maharashtra, told Gaon Connection.

Slowly settling in

For Nag and Kashyap, working at the resort is not a bad option, they said. “We can stay in Bastar and near our families,” Nag said. But, their troubled past is never far from their minds. “We are still apprehensive. When we visit our village about 20 kilometres away, we cannot spend the night there despite four CRPF camps nearby,” Kashyap added.

But, the disappointment of not being able to wear police khakis remains with Nag. “I wanted to join the police as my life was turned upside down at a young age. I know of some 12 others like me who got selected,” he said wistfully.

The resort was doing well as there were not too many places for tourists to stay in near the waterfall, he added. Till November last year, the resort had welcomed 852 tourists.

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Ever since the three-day Bastar tourism meet of 2021 organised by the district administration to showcase the endless possibilities of Bastar, tourists are favouring southern Chhattisgarh for its rich tribal culture, natural beauty and its special food like chapra or the red ant chutney and chaur bhaja, an Adivasi dish of rice and chicken cooked together.

There have been positive outcomes for local inhabitants near the Indravati STF resort who are now employed there.

Panchuram Mandavi whose village is just two km away in Lamdaguda village near the waterfall is one such. He studied till class 10 and he cycles to the camp and back every day. “Farming doesn’t offer much,” he told Gaon Connection and is happy he has a job at the resort.

For Nag and Kashyap, their beautiful village surrounded by the hills and watered by the Indravati river is never far from their minds. “But, beautiful as it is, I feel uneasy there. It is a constant reminder of my missed childhood,” Nag said.