A railway trackman was killed and another was severely injured in a landmine blast suspected to have been triggered by Maoists in Odisha’s Sundargarh district, bordering Jharkhand, on Sunday.
Deceased Etawa Oram, 37, had been carrying out maintenance work on tracks with others when the explosion occurred. Injured Budharam Munda has been admitted to the Rourkela General Hospital.
The blast occurred on the last day of the Martyrs’ Week observed by Maoists since July 28. Police seized several Maoist leaflets from the area, which falls within the Saranda forest along the Odisha-Jharkhand border.
Rourkela SP Nitesh Wadhwani told The Telegraph: “The IED blast occurred around 10am between Renjda (Odisha) and Karampada (Jharkhand) rail route, mainly used for mineral transport. We had prior information about Maoists. Sanitisation began in the morning. During track scanning, the blast occurred, killing a South Eastern Railway employee and injuring another. The injured worker is stable.”
The explosion left a deep crater on the tracks. “Train movement will remain suspended until complete sanitisation is ensured. We will not take any risks,” Wadhwani said.
Chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi announced an ex gratia of ₹10 lakh for Oram’s next of kin.
Odisha police, with support from the CRPF, searched for more explosives along the tracks. The Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Railway Protection Special Force (RPSF) have been deployed at stations along the Odisha-Jharkhand border, along with bomb detection squads.
In May, Maoists looted a truck with four tonnes of explosives meant for a stone quarry in Banko near the Jharkhand border. Over 70 per cent of the explosives were recovered from Tiriliposh in Jharkhand, 10km from the Odisha border.
Following Sunday’s blast, Odisha has issued alerts across districts bordering Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.