“Till October, 2006, the area on the two sides of Jaravandi-Kasansur road was home to intense Naxal activities like road blockades, ambushes, etc. We had great difficulty going to those villages which were completely with the Naxals,” says Dede.

“When Kasansur Dalam commander Bharti Akka surrendered in September, she spilled the beans about Janatana Sarkar. Since then, we started an intensive Gram Bhet (village visits) campaign. We told the villages that they are free to help Naxals, but then should anything go wrong they would have themselves to blame for it. We asked them about their developmental needs and assured them to get the demands met from the administration. We persuaded them tirelessly and they finally deserted the Naxalites and surrendered,” he says.

DSP Rajesh Pradhan, 30, admits they didn’t know about Janatana Sarkar as such, but were aware of the villages following Naxal diktats. “But finally, they have come out of it,” he says, adding, “since October, we haven’t had a single incident in the area, clearly indicating that the villagers are with us now.”

The government has sanctioned about Rs 22 lakh for the development of the villages. But shall the reversal of fortune stay long with the police?

“We will try everything to get these villages what they want,” says Pradhan. But going by the government’s poor record about building on the gains of Gram Bhet or Jan Jagram Melawa (awareness rallies), it won’t be long before Jaravandi villages are again wooed by the Naxalites.