Muzaffarpur/Patna, May 25: After a lull, the Maoists are back to the extortion business with a bang. Their prime targets — the private and government agencies engaged in construction of roads and bridges in the state — are crying for security cover as work has come to a grinding halt at several places.

The Maoists are most active in the north Bihar region. They have served extortion letters to the local officials of the construction companies and threatened them with dire consequences for their failure to follow their diktat.

The gravity of the situation can be gauged from the fact that secretary of Union ministry of road transport and highways A.K. Upadhyay shot off a letter to Bihar chief secretary Navin Kumar on May 16, demanding deployment of adequate security personnel at the construction sites of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in the state.

The NHAI secretary’s letter cites two major attacks carried out by armed criminals (suspected Maoists) at construction sites on the Muzaffarpur-Sonbarsa section of NH-77 and Chhapra-Hajipur section on April 22 and April 13, respectively. In both the incidents, machines engaged in construction work were set on fire, causing huge loss to the companies.

Upadhyay expressed displeasure over the callous attitude of the district administrative officials towards providing security to the employees and officials even after the attack.

“The works get adversely affected after such incidents. The engineers and machine operators are afraid to work at sites in the absence of visible security arrangements,” the secretary’s letter said.

Reports said the work on the Muzaffarpur-Sonbarsa section of NH-77 had been disrupted after the murder of supervisor of Andhra Pradesh-based construction company — BSC and CJV — in an attack carried out by suspected Maoists on April 22. Following the gruesome murder of Sanjay Kumar, the supervisor of the agency, at Sonbarsa in Sitamarhi district, regional officer of NHAI B.P. Singh wrote letters to top police and administrative officers, including road construction department (Bihar) secretary Pratyaya Amrit, demanding security cover for the employees and officials assigned the construction work.

The letter, the copy of which were also sent to Tirhut division commissioner S.K. Negi and district magistrates of Muzaffarpur and Sitamarhi, sought intensified patrolling near the construction sites of the NHAI. Site engineer of BSC and CJV Umesh Mehrotra informed the district magistrates of Muzaffarpur and Sitamarhi that the workers were not ready to continue with assignment because of lack of security as they apprehended more attacks in near future.

Mehtotra said he had sought round-the-clock police deployment at the construction sites, particularly the makeshift camps under Maoist-affected Minapur, Aurai, Jhapha and Ahiyapur police stations of Muzaffarpur.

Officiating district magistrate of Muzaffarpur Vinod Singh Gunjiyal said the personnel of the state auxiliary police (SAP) had been deputed at the vulnerable places to prevent the movement of unlawful forces.