Raipur: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday stressed development and vowed to fight for peace in Maoist-hit Dantewada region of mineral-rich Chhattisgarh.

He also appealed the rebels to give up violence and work for development. “Violence has no future, but peace does,” said Modi, who was in the central Indian state to sign two memoranda of understanding for a mega steel plant and the second phase of the Rowghat-Jagdalpur railway line.

A day earlier, Maoists reportedly held hostage between 500-1,000 villagers who on their way to the prime minister’s rally.

“I am sure that humanity exists in them and they will change,” Modi said in apparent reference to Maoists.

There were contradictory claims about the ‘hostage’ situation in nearby Sukma district.

While some reports claimed Maoists took the villagers hostage Friday night at Morenga — 80 km from where Modi attended the function, Sukma additional superintendent of police Harish Rathore said anywhere between 400 and 500 villagers were “taken away” to the jungles by the rebels opposing construction of a bridge.

ETV News reported that as many 1000 people from four nearby villages, most of them BJP workers, were taken hostage.

But, Bastar Range IG RP Kalluri said only five laborers working on the bridge were held captive and the rest of the villagers had only gone to negotiate with the Maoists.

A source in Jagdalpur said the administration had been collecting villagers for the past two day to take them to the venue of the prime minister’s rally. They also forcibly took away private vehicles to transport villagers, he added.

Both Dantewada and Sukma are in Maoist-hit Bastar region, where seven policemen were killed and 10 were injured in an ambush by the extremists in April.

ANI quoted former home secretary RK Singh as saying Maoists targeted the villagers after security was thinned out in adjoining areas because of the prime minister’s visit.

“Maoists oppose construction of bridges or roads, as they oppose all developmental work,” Singh said, harping on an allegation leveled against the rebels time and again.

Maoists in the Dantewada region had earlier called a two-day shut down and appealed to villagers to boycott Modi’s visit that aimed to push forward development in the backward region.

Modi, however, stressed growth and spread of education in his brief speech.

“Development must reach the poor. Jobs for the youth are at the core of our policies,” he said, “People know that employment is of prime importance. They can build a house, educate their children, etc only if they are employed.”

Modi stressed skill development. “Even the developed and happy nations of the world are laying emphasis on skill development. I recognize talent and skill.”

For Modi’s Dantewada visit, a multi-layered security blanket was in place, with Special Protection Group officials in coordination with state police and paramilitary officials dealing with security arrangements.

Around 10,000 paramilitary forces — apart from the state’s armed and special forces– involved in anti-Maoist operations, were part of the security measures for Modi.

After landing in Dantewada, Modi visited an education city built for providing education to under-privileged children in the area and interacted with students there.

The education city is spread across 100 acres, costs around 1.2 billion rupees and can provide residential and classroom educational facilities to 5,000 students. Modi, the first prime minister since Rajiv Gandhi to visit the region, also visited a skill-development college.

On Modi’s prime agenda was a MoU for setting up of the ultra-mega steel plant at Dilmili village that will fetch the state a direct investment of more than 180 billion rupees and employ over 10,000 people.

The second MoU was for the second phase of a 140 km railway-link between Rowghat and Jagdalpur, connecting Bastar with important cities of the state such as Raipur, Bilaspur and Durg. The rail link will also help in easy and cheaper transportation of iron-ore for industries.

The two projects are expected to rapidly help in socio-economic transformation of Bastar, officials said. A MoU for second phase of Rowghat-Jagdalpur line was signed earlier also but was shelved because of lack of funds.