ET World Leaders Forum: Chhattisgarh steps up investment push as Red Corridor turns 'safe'

Chhattisgarh is now "completely safe", including its once Maoism-hit Bastar region, chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai said, adding that people can now travel anywhere in the state, without fear, even in the middle of the night.

Speaking at The Economic Times World Leaders Forum, Sai urged investors to set up industries in the mineral-rich state.

"Chhattisgarh and Bastar are now completely safe. You can travel anywhere, at any time-even at 1 am-without any fear whatsoever," he said in a session moderated by ET's Nidhi Sharma.


India had declared itself Maoism-free in March.

Speaking about the fight against Red terror, Sai said a review meeting of Naxal-affected states in January 2024 had found that more than three-fourths of Naxalism was concentrated in Chhattisgarh, with the remaining one-fourth spread across six to seven states.

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"The reason for this was that the previous state government did not cooperate with the government of India," he said.

Sai said concerted efforts by the "double engine sarkar (government)" had helped make the state Maoism-free.

"With the double-engine government, the blessings of the prime minister and the strong determination of the home minister, we launched a fight against Naxalism with a new strategy. We boosted the morale of our security personnel, and when we went among the people, we received their overwhelming support and blessings."

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"The people had also been deprived of development for 40 to 50 years. Deep in their hearts, they too wanted to become free from Naxalism. Because of all these factors, we succeeded in eradicating Naxalism-a task that had once seemed almost impossible, making people wonder whether Naxalism would ever end. We succeeded in removing Naxalism, which had been a major hindrance to the development of a state like Chhattisgarh," said Sai.

The chief minister said the government's new industrial policy was helping attract investment.

"It has been only about a year or a year and a half since the launch of a new industrial policy. In such a short time, investments worth more than ₹8.25 lakh crore have been committed, with many projects already taking shape on the ground. This includes the core sector, power sector, steel, green energy, AI, electronics, textiles and handlooms. Industries are coming in all these sectors."

"The government has implemented a single window system-a one-click single-window system. Investors will not face any hassle or need to make rounds of 10 different offices. Our entire team from the Industries Department stands ready to assist them," he said.

Speaking about youth protests across the country, Sai said his government was working to improve education and provide better employment opportunities.

"Special emphasis has been placed on employment in our new industrial policy. If an entrepreneur provides employment to 1,000 local people in their enterprise, there is a provision to grant them a special incentive amount."

"We have also included tourism in the new policy. One element is the 'home stay' system. Foreign tourists often prefer staying in local homes rather than hotels, which directly brings financial benefits to that family. Therefore, we have included home stays in the new industrial policy, and we are providing loans and subsidies for a family to construct up to five rooms," he said.

"Particularly in the Bastar region and Sarguja division, there are immense possibilities for tourism."

The chief minister said education was a "primary need" and a fundamental driver of development. "Our policymakers have said that education is the fundamental key to development. If you want development in any sector, education is essential, and that is why we are taking education forward in a significant way. Today, all kinds of facilities and educational institutions are being provided for the youth within our state."

"It has been 25 years since our state was formed, and during these 25 years, all kinds of educational institutions have been established there. Earlier, when we used to study in primary school, the school in our village did not have the facility to conduct the Class 5 board examinations. We had to travel six to seven kilometres to take the examinations at a school in another village."

"However, in these 25 years, so much development has taken place that every panchayat has a primary school, middle school and high school. Every block has higher secondary schools and colleges. In addition, all the national-level institutions - such as the IITs, IIMs, IIITs, NITs, law universities and the AIIMS - are present," said the chief minister.