Tricolour flies atop ‘Naxal’ hill

The tricolour fluttered atop a Naxal-controlled hill of an Abujhmad village in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district for the first time in many decades on Sunday.

About 40 km away from Bhamragarh, the remote Binagunda village hardly has any presence of government, thanks to domination by the Naxals over the last three decades. A team of police commandos, led by Sub-divisional Police Officer of Bhamragarh Vishal Thakur, walked two days from Bhamragarh through the inaccessible terrain covered with thick forest to reach Binagunda on Saturday. On Sunday, they hoisted the tricolour on the premises of a school run by an NGO.

Binagunda used to be visited by government staff only during the elections. Since 2009, the village has not had a poll booth after Naxals opened fire at a security helicopter during election.