Those who surrender will also get vocational training and a stipend of Rs 2,000 per month for a maximum of three years. Bringing in arms will be rewarded too. An AK-47 rifle will fetch Rs 15,000, a machine gun Rs 25,000 and a pistol or revolver Rs 3,000, said the state’s Home Secretary Samar Ghosh.

The one-time payment of Rs 1.5 lakh will be kept in a bank account for three years, Home department sources said.

The government is also ready to overlook punishment for smaller crimes and will provide free legal counsel to the surrendered men. The proceedings on crimes such as murder will, however, continue.

Home Secretary Samar Ghosh told The Indian Express : “The state government has informed the Ministry of Home Affairs that it will abide by its guidelines.”

But Bengal, sources pointed out, has imbibed the lower spectrum of what the central government has suggested for rehabilitation packages. Jharkhand has announced an initial payment of Rs 3 lakh to a Naxal who turns himself in. The cash incentives for surrendering arms are also on the higher side, with an AK-47 bringing in Rs 75,000.

Bengal scores in spelling out a complete development package for areas inhabited by Left wing extremists. The government will continue to give rice at Rs 2 a kilogram. There are plans to increase the number of teachers in state-run schools from 13,500 to 18,000 and to open two hostels for tribals in Kharagpur and West Midnapur. A computer centre in West Midnapur, giving out bicycles to students of class X and XII, distributing seeds to farmers and improving irrigation facilities are also on the agenda.