At the end of the 14km deserted stretch, women participated in a rally in favour of Lalgarh people with their traditional weapons. (Sanat Kumar Sinha)

Belpahari, Nov. 20: A 16km stretch of road between Belpahari and Banspahari near the Jharkhand border has been made inaccessible to police and become the safe corridor for Maoists.

The police used to patrol the road in West Midnapore right up to the Jharkhand border to stop Maoists from sneaking in, but for the last two weeks, they could not proceed beyond Belpahari, about 22km from the state border. The villagers placed tree trunks all along the 16km stretch of the road.

“This area, a CPI (Maoist) stronghold, plays a key role in keeping the Lalgarh movement alive. As we are not removing the logs to avoid provoking the tribals, anyone can do anything there after crossing over from Jharkhand,” said Prasanta Gayen, the officer in-charge of the Belpahari police station.

“We have information that outsiders are entering from Jharkhand through the Belpahari road and heading towards Lalgarh (60km away) through Adgari, Orgoda and Harda areas in Binpur,” said an intelligence branch official.

He said the massive support that tribals in Lalgarh had was because of the support of the “outsiders” from Jharkhand.

“Taking advantage of the deserted 16km, they are coming out from jungles and hills along the border using the road as their safe corridor,” the officer added.

Chhatrapati Mahato has confirmed that his brother Sasadhar, the Maoist leader who is the prime accused in the November 2 blast, is roaming the villages in the area. “He is now in these villages roaming around from one place to another,” Chatrapati said.

The first tree trunk blocking the road is just 1km from the Belpahari police station. The entire 16km stretch is deserted.

In places, boulders have been placed. Even the narrow village paths off the main road have been blocked with logs.

This correspondent who toured the area found around 500 tribals assembled with arms at the end of the blocked road.

One of them, Subhash Hembram, said: “We are with the people of Lalgarh. We share their pain. We will withdraw the blockade when their problem is sorted out.”

Asked how they earn their livelihood as they have stopped working, Jamuna Hembram, from Jobigora village, said: “Those who love us take care of us.”

Tribals again dug up the road connecting Lalgarh to Jhargram and Midnapore that was repaired yesterday.

The tribals in Bankura continued blocking the Bankura-Midnapore state highway the second day.