Road communication between Berhampur in Ganjam district and Daringibadi in Kandhamal, was totally disrupted following the road blockade by putting up huge logs of trees.
An alert was today sounded in three southern Orissa districts comprising Gajapati, Kandhmal and Ganjam in the wake of road blocks put up by suspected Maoists on NH 217 near Ashurabandha, about 100 km from here.
Road communication between Berhampur in Ganjam district and Daringibadi in Kandhamal, was totally disrupted following the road blockade by putting up huge logs of trees.
Police were yet to identify the persons behind the incident. " We are investigating and efforts are on to clear the National Highway", Ganjam SP Nitinjit Singh said.
He, however, did not rule out involvement of left-wing ultras in the incident.
Police personnel were surprised over the NH blockade, without any provocation, only two days after the Maoists observed a bandh in the state.
Though Maoists are using Ganjam as their transit point to move to adjoining districts like Kandhamal, Gajapati and Nayagarh, they, however, have not indulged in any major incident so far in the district.
However, security personnel in Gajapati and Kandhamal districts sounded the alert after the incident. " We have already alerted the security personnel in Gajapati, Kandhamal and Ganjam districts," DIG of Police, southern range, Berhampur, RK Sharma, said.
Three security personnel were killed and ten others injured, four of them critically, in a fierce encounter with Maoists at Ambujari forest in Gajapti district on March 24, just a day after the Maoists observed a 48-hr bandh in the state.
The ultras had also damaged three mobile towers, he said.
Security had been tightened in vulnerable areas and additional security forces deployed in the district following the incidents.
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