Two days before the Dantewada-Narayanpur encounter in which 31 Naxalites were killed by security personnel, senior Maoist leader Niti held a meeting with locals near Gawadi village where she opposed the construction of roads and setting up of a police camp.

The meeting turned out to be the last one for 45-year-old Niti alias Urmila, a member of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee, the strongest formation of Maoists, who was carrying a reward of Rs 25 lakh on her head.

Security forces gunned down 31 Naxalites, including Niti, in a forest between Thulthuli and Gawadi villages along the Narayanpur-Dantewada inter-district border on October 4 in a fierce exchange of fire.

Residents of Gawadi seem to have toed the line of the slain rebel as they don't want any roads, fearing the potential establishment of a police camp in their village.

Thulthuli, Gawadi and adjoining villages were considered the safest haven for People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) company no. 6 of Maoists which was headed by Niti, before it was breached by security personnel last week.

PLGA company no. 6 is active in the junction of Narayanpur, Dantewada, Bijapur and Bastar districts where Naxalites often take meetings to put forth their propaganda and brainwash villagers, police said.

"Niti held a meeting with villagers in Gawadi two days ahead of the encounter. Her last word was don't allow police camps to be established and roads to be built. We don't want roads as if they will be built, our 'jal, jungle, and zameen' (water, forest and land) will be snatched from us," a 30-year-old villager from Gawadi told PTI, wishing anonymity.

Niti was a native of Irmagunda village in Gangaloor area of neighbouring Bijapur district.

The villager, who claimed to be a farmer, said security personnel visited Gawadi twice in one year.

Villagers were subjected to questioning by police during their visits, and he was also among those who were quizzed, the local said, denying association of any of the villagers with Naxalites.

He said on the day of the encounter he was busy with household chores after lunch when sounds of bullets reverberated through the forest from the top of hills.

It was not an unusual sound given it is a core zone of Naxalites, but as the firing continued, villagers realised something big had happened, he said.

After a few hours, he looked up and saw a helicopter landing near his village to airlift an injured jawan. The man gradually learnt that several Naxalites were gunned down.

Gawadi is one of the villages closest to the forest where the encounter occurred, inflicting the highest number of fatalities on Naxalites in a single counter-insurgency operation since Chhattisgarh's creation 24 years ago.

One of the nondescript villages in Narayanpur district, Gawadi falls in Thulthuli panchayat under the Orchha development block bordering Gadchiroli of Maharashtra.

Nestled deep within the forests of Abhujmad, it is difficult to reach Gawadi. Beyond Orchha, there are no motorable roads.

One has to negotiate hilly terrain tracks on a motorbike for two hours and at least seven rivulets for about 30-km from Orchha, the last police station in the area. No security camp is situated beyond Orchha.

The village has 30 families belonging to the Abujhmaria tribe. The village gets mobile phone connectivity from a single telecom service provider but the range is erratic, forcing residents to gather at a particular place for accessing the mobile network.

Another Gawadi farmer, Kosru Vadde (36), claimed several villages in Abhujmad area of the district are un-surveyed (in terms of revenue record), depriving tribals of benefits offered by various government schemes.

Vadde said villagers want better schools, clean drinking water and health facilities, but no roads. It is up to the government to arrange facilities for them without building roads.

A class 8 dropout, Vadde is the most educated persons in the village.

Gawadi has a primary school where Vadde works as a mid-day meal cook. He has to bring ration for his family and the school children from Orchha which is a tedious task.

The local denied intimidation by Naxalites, saying he had nothing to do with them.

Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police, Bastar Range, Sundarraj P said the operation was carried out based on the presence of Naxalites belonging to company no. 6 on the hills of Gawadi, Thulthuli and Nendur villages.

"Given it is a core area of company no. 6, Maoists holding meetings of villagers is not an unusual thing. They often take such meetings to spread their propaganda and brainwash villagers," he said.

The objective of police is to protect people living in the inaccessible forests and difficult geographical conditions and bring them out of the clutches of Naxalites so that development and peace can be established in the region, he added.

Of the 31 slain Naxalites, police have so far ascertained the identity of 22 cadres who were carrying a cumulative reward of Rs 1.67 crore on their heads.

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