Malkangiri: A dawn-to-dusk bandh call given by several Maoist organisations, protesting the encounter of ultras inside a forest in cut-off regions of this district, affected normal life in this district Thursday.
All local passenger buses remained off roads while bus services to Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Visakhapatnam and Raipur were suspended by the administration to prevent any untoward incident, it was learnt.
Shops and commercial establishments downed their shutters in Kalimela, Padia, MV-79 and Motu while the weekly market at Kalimela couldn’t be held. Similarly, panchayat offices in inaccessible areas afflicted by Maoist activities also remained closed. However, in Malkangiri town it was business as usual with shops remaining open.
“The regions bordering Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have been sealed while jawans of BSF and CoBRA battalion have been deployed,” Malkangiri SP Mitrabhanu Mohapatra said. Overall security arrangements in the district have been tightened, while combing operations near the border areas have been intensified to prevent Maoist violence, the SP added.
As many as 30 ultras were gunned down last week during a joint combing operation launched by AP and Orissa police inside Damagada forest under the cut-off regions of Chitrakonda block. Several Maoists outfits called bandh in five states – Orissa, AP, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Maharashtra – to register their protests against the operation.
Meanwhile, some people of the cut-off region alleged that AP police have killed 12 locals who had been missing since the encounter.
Greyhound jawans of AP police have continued their special combing to nab Maoist leader RK and Uday, it was learnt.
On the other hand, police have asked the political leaders and district officials not to visit the Maoist-affected regions on security grounds. In case of emergency, they should follow standard operating procedure by taking clearance from police ahead of their visits, the SP said, adding they should tread the routes with extreme caution.
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