After spending more than four months in make-shift camps, 191 families of five tribal villages in the Naxal-hit Sundergarh district have returned home.
Nearly 3,000 people had been sheltered in camps near the K-Balang police station area in the Bonai sub-division of the district since December 22, last year after the Maoists ran through their vilages.
The villagers of Relhatur, Mahuspada, Longakata, Sanblijore and Jharbeda moved to the K-Balang police station for fear of reprisal after they helped security forces to arrest some ultras along with arms and ammunition.
The villages were earlier promised jobs under NREGS, medical health care, and education in the camps till the situation improved in their villages.
But, the promises were never redeemed by the authorities, the villagers complained.
There were frequent landmine blasts in the villages which damaged school buildings, panchayat buildings and health centres triggering panick.
The Maoists have, meanwhile, appealed to the villagers to return home and extend their support to their movement.