Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel claimed that it was the only state in the country to have recovered and returned the money duped by chit-fund companies.

In a statement issued to the media on Monday, Baghel also claimed about significant decline in Maoist activities in the state.

“Our government is serious about cracking down on online gambling and we are the only state in the country to ensure justice to those who lost their hard-earned money to fraud chit-fund companies. The Chhattisgarh government took strict action against such companies, recovered the money and returned it to the investors,” said Baghel.

Last month, the Chhattisgarh government gave another instalment of money to the investors who were duped by the fraud chit-fund companies in the state.

At a function organised under the banner of Nyay Karyakarm (justice programme) in August, Baghel disbursed Rs 4,13,88,996 to 35,378 investors. With this, the Bhupesh Baghel government as of now has refunded Rs 37,92,99,656 to 81,204 victim investors.

“To prevent the influence of gambling and betting in Chhattisgarh, strict provisions have been included in the Gambling Prohibition Act in the state. This includes a provision of punishment for online gambling as well,” he said.

“Chhattisgarh police is conducting a special campaign against narcotics, because of which drug smuggling has been effectively controlled,” the chief minister added.

“Chief minister’s leadership has rejuvenated the confidence and morale of Chhattisgarh police. Consequently, there has been a decline of 52 per cent in the Naxal incidents from the year 2018 to the year 2022. As many as 314 schools that remained shut down for almost one-and-a-half decades because of Naxalite violence have been renovated and reopened. Total 589 villages have become Naxal free and more than 5.74 lakh people have been freed from violence and terror,” said the release issued by the chief minister's secretariat.

“Moving forward on the basic mantra of justice, trust and security in the state to attain the goal of 'Gadbo Nava Chhattisgarh', the chief minister has maintained the policy of zero tolerance against crimes in the last five years. Under the direction of the chief minister, the basic policing of the state has won the trust of the public and crimes have been curbed in the state with zero tolerance,” the statement added.

The statement also claimed that in Chhattisgarh, there has been a 40 per cent decrease in crimes against women from 2019 to now, as compared to 2015 to 2018.

“The chief minister has recently made a major announcement of banning the people accused of raping women from government jobs. To curb crime against women, separate women's police stations have been established in four districts of the state. Also, women's cells are being operated in 455 police stations and posts.