Maoists are threatening to blow up Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s dream of connecting the state to Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand through a state-of-the-art road network.
The 1,729-km road linking Jharkhand, Orissa and Andhra passes through 12 Maoist strongholds in the state
BHUBANESHWAR: Maoists are threatening to blow up Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s dream of connecting the state to Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand through a state-of-the-art road network.
The 1,729-km road between Vijayawada in Andhra and Ranchi in Jharkhand passes through 12 naxal-infested districts of the state, the so-called red corridor, and left-wing extremists are a major stumbling block in its realisation.
While 1,219 km of the road falls in Orissa, about 314km passes though Andhra and 197.13km through Jharkhand.
Public works minister AU Singh Deo admitted, “Yes, we are facing trouble as contractors are not keen on taking up road works in naxal-affected areas.
“If required, we will seek the help of the Border Roads Organisation and the State House Police Corporation.
“We won’t allow the Maoists to shatter Naveen’s dream.”
While laying the foundation stone at Nakatideula in Sambalpur district recently, Patnaik had said the road would bring prosperity to the state and improve the standard of living of tribals. The work would be completed in phases, he added.
Work on another stretch of the road has begun near Bhanjanagar in the southern parts of the state.
The road from Vijayawada touches Orissa at Motu in Malkangiri district and passes through Koraput, Rayagada, Gajapati, Ganjam, Kandhamal, Anugul, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Boudh before touching Jharkhand.
As the road has the potential to expose Maoist hideouts and make them vulnerable to government attacks, they have begun attacking contractors. There have been instances when the naxals set afire equipment of the contractors engaged in the work.
The Maoists have even begun extracting money from contractors. The chanda varies from 10-30% of the contract, a contractor said requesting anonymity. The government is aware of this, but is helpless.
subhashish_m@yahoo.com
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