Nitish Kumar in Arwal on Tuesday. Telegraph picture

Patna, Nov. 29: Chief minister Nitish Kumar today moved unhindered in the villages of south Bihar’s Arwal district, known to be a part of the “Red corridor” in the security forces’ lexicon, when the rebels are preparing to observe a two-day Bharat bandh to protest the killing of their leader, Kishan, in neighbouring Bengal.

The chief minister did not even refer to Kishan or his associate, Ajay Kanu, the man behind the Jehanabad jailbreak in 2005. In fact, there was no mention of the state’s biggest-ever carnage that left 58 Dalits dead in Laxamanpur-Bathe village in 1997 or the rebels’ retaliation with the killing of 37 upper caste men at Senari in 1999 in the same geographical region.

The chief minister was moving in relatively tight security. Over 5,000 people greeted him when he landed to inspect the Nenua Nala, an irrigation project on the Sone. The roaring of the guns, which once was the hallmark of the region, was missing. Many people had turned up with flowers and garlands to greet Nitish in the “Red zone”.

The Naxalite menace was the primary reason for the government to carve out Arwal police district from Jehanabad first and then convert it to a full-fledged administrative district in 2001. Arwal, comprising only five blocks with over six lakh population, is the third least populated district of the state after Sheikhpura and Sheohar.

Nestled in the bed of Sone, the district’s hinterland is known for fertile alluvial soil and availability of water at relatively low depth. Ironically, the region is also known for its extreme backwardness with earlier the CPI-ML (Party Unity) and Maoist Co-mmunist Centre (MCC) and then the CPI(Maoist) establi-shing their full sway in the area. Arwal was the first district where Nitish experimented his novel programme “Sarkar Aap Ke Dwar (government at your doorsteps)”. .

Nitish kept his Seva Yatra, in its fourth phase now, quite business-like. While inspecting the Nenua Nala project, the engineer CM felt the need of the building siphons in the canal and immediately ordered the officials to carry out the instructions.

Then he moved to Karpi — another dreaded village-cum-block where angels feared to tread even during the day — and inspected construction of roads and other infrastructures at Telpa village.

He had a meeting with the officials of the irrigation, road and other departments in the village to review the ongoing work.

“The irrigation projects and roads will help the people expand the sources of their livelihood and earning. I can’t tolerate any laxity in these work,” Nitish warned the officials.