Parallel govts in Orissa districts

Maoists virtually run a parallel government in nearly 20 districts of Orissa after either killing village headmen or driving away influential people. It has been the same in Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Coming under pressure from central forces, Maoists have begun to kill anybody they suspect of being a police informer. They first target the village headman, asking him to give their cadres shelters and food. If he disobeys he is killed, a senior police officer said.

In the last year, Maoists have gunned down a dozen village headmen. They killed over 50 others, suspecting them of being police informers. Only on Tuesday night, 50 Maoists swooped down on a village in Rayagada and killed four people. Before killing them, the
Maoists slit their throats and pasted posters urging people not to be police informers.

Rayagada SP Ashish Kumar Singh said the Maoists are on a killing spree after a number of their comrades surrendered in the last six months.  With the state’s bordering areas turning into a war zone, developmental work has been hit. Block development officers don’t want to work in these areas. “I don’t want a Bharat Ratna. I want a transfer from this place,” said Balamukunda Bhuain, Narayan Patna BDO in Koraput.