In Naxal country, Red is the colour of money

So organised are their extortion rackets that investors, forced to stay back because their money is stuck, are willing to suffer in silence till some sort of civil governance returns to these areas.

In short, the ‘revolution’ is getting a bad name but so are the states.

Police officials in Maharashtra say they have evidence that Gadchiroli, being used as a passage by People’s War cadres moving from Andhra to Chhattisgarh, had been coughing up nearly Rs 14 crore every year in exchange for trade in tendu leaves and bamboo produce.

‘‘The situation was really getting out of hand. While we were trying to hunt them down, the Naxals were raising money from the area. They were taking full advantage of their familiarity with the forests. Tendu and bamboo are big business, there’s big money involved. At one stage, we even warned traders and some private companies that we would haul them in too if they continued to pay up,’’ a senior police officer told The Indian Express.

No one is quite sure of the magnitude of the extortion racket but officials agree ‘‘it has to be in crores.’’

Officials blame it on the outfits’ haste to expand their mass base. ‘‘They have ended up enlisting even people who have no commitment, no ideology and no clear idea what they are fighting for.’’

In Gadchiroli, when a dalam commander Vishwanath was arrested and interrogated, the police were no wiser: ‘‘He had no idea what they hoped to achieve. All that they had done was give him a gun. He was quite clueless why he was fighting the state.’’

In Jharkhand, police have discovered a document in which a Naxal commander has been assured by his cadres that the ‘‘collection’’ in that particular area ‘‘will increase this year to Rs 1 crore from Rs 70 lakh.’’

In Andhra Pradesh, when Chandrababu Naidu’s government was going all out against the People’s War, road contractors struck a deal with cadres in Khammam district and no one had the courage to question their sub-standard work.

Government men and machinery, officials point out, continue to be the favourite target of Naxalites. ‘‘When they destroy public works equipment, the idea is not to let the area show any sign of progress. A backward area is a good breeding ground,’’ argue officials.

Madhya Pradesh officials say one reason why Balaghat finds a place on the Maoist map of Dandakaranya, stretching from Andhra Pradesh to Chhattisgarh with parts of Maharashtra and Orissa thrown in, is because of its mineral and forest wealth.

Over 50 per cent of the district lies beneath a teak, sal and bamboo canopy.

‘‘We know transporters of forest produce and contractors pay huge sums. It’s a kind of protection they buy. That’s the reason why nobody wants the state to take over the entire forest produce activity,’’ an official said.

Balaghat is also where India’s manganese ore comes from. Manganese Ore India Ltd (MOIL) has mines in Bharveli, Tiroda and Ukwa. Twenty-two kilometres from Baihar is Malajkhand, where Hindustan Copper is discovering some of the largest deposits in the country.

Yet, Balaghat has very few big industries to boast of. Its remoteness, the presence of three or four dalams (armed Red squads) are enough to keep people at bay. Officials said a cement factory in the district closed down recently. No one is saying why.

In Chhattisgarh, where Left-wing extremists hold sway in the tribal areas, officials admit that they won sympathy among people by grabbing and distributing land: ‘‘They organised proper meetings in the interiors and asked village heads to distribute land papers. It gave them the hold they wanted. Plus, these are areas where there was little or no semblance of government authority.’’

Officials in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra have a new worry: the lifting of the ban on the People’s War in Andhra Pradesh. ‘‘They have a safe haven now. They will strike wherever they can, whenever they can and slip back across the border. We know of instances when even timber smugglers crossing from one state to another have used Naxals as escorts.’’