Chhattisgarh: Puvarti, once ruled by dreaded Maoist Hidma, set to get government hospital

The village which has produced 22 hardcore Maoists including Hidma has witnessed massive infrastructure development in the last one year following establishment of a security camp in it.

“A government hospital is coming up in Puvarti”, chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai said on Wednesday.

The development of the village showed the commitment by the government to make the state Naxal free by March, 2026, he said.

The village which produced dreaded Maoists such as Hidma, a Central Committee (CC) member of outlawed CPI (Maoist), and Deva, commander of the battalion number one of Naxals, was once considered the invincible fort of the ultras.

Hidma, who had allegedly masterminded a number of major attacks on security forces in Bastar in the last one and half decades, had proved to be elusive for police so far.

For the first time after independence, the tricolor was hoisted in the village on the Republic Day last year.

“Puvarti has now been electrified. A road has been laid and a school opened in the village. A public distribution system (PDS) shop has also come up in the village. Besides, a mobile tower has been installed in the village”, Bastar range inspector general of police P Sunderraj told this newspaper on Wednesday.

The village is located on the border of Sukma and Bijapur districts in south Bastar.

A medical team visiting the village had even treated the ageing mother of Hidma after a security camp was established in the village a year ago.

However, sources said Hidma’s mother had reportedly quietly fled to an unknown place a few months ago.

State health minister Shyam Vehari Jaiswal told the state Assembly here on Wednesday that three public health Centres (PHCs) are coming up in Puvarti and Bhejji in Sukma district and Sirimkela in Jashpur district in the state.