Illustration by Suman Choudhury

If a road is a vehicle for development, Uskanbad does not have much to show for it. Barely 35 km from the district headquarters of Malkangiri, on the southern tip of Orissa, this village is home to Nanda Kumar Kartami, president of the Malkangiri Zilla Parishad.

But chances are that you will never get to see him unless, of course, you have a four-wheel, all-terrain vehicle or a robust Bullet to bounce you through this rocky, potholed nightmare, freckled with chipped culverts as fragile as peace in Kashmir.

True, after a bone-breaking, never-ending crawl to Uskanbad, you might be tempted to blame Kartami ?the BJP leader who presides over all that passes off as development in Malkangiri ?for not doing enough for his village. But you certainly can?t fault him for being partisan. For, all roads into, through and out of this district ? bordering Andhra Pradesh on one side and Chhattisgarh on the other ? are a picture of neglect. Without a single exception.

So, it is only natural that the Naveen Patnaik government would now accord building roads ?top? priority in its scheme of things. But in remote Malkangiri, where the clout of the gun-toting Naxalites is spreading fast and wide, it?s only half the story.

The Orissa chief minister, aides say, wants to fight the terror of guns with bouquets of development. And what else, they ask rhetorically, could bring development rapidly into a village than a road?

Doctors, teachers, officers ? they would all be able to visit the remote areas once they are connected, home secretary Santosh Kumar argues. Having tar roads ? and the consequent bus services ? would help tribespeople, who make up more than 60 per cent of the population, travel easily and sell their produce at a better price in nearby towns.

?Roads can be a great antidote to Naxalism,? Kumar says. With that singular aim in mind, he says the state government proposes to build eight major roads not just in Malkangiri but in six other districts, where it?s been waging a bloody battle with the ultras over the last few years.

In fact, if all goes well, the country may see a new highway slicing through the Naxalite-hit areas of Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand. The Rs 800-crore proposal now rests with the cabinet committee on security for its okay.

?When all these roads are built, it will open up new opportunities to people living in these Naxalite-affected districts in Orissa,? Kumar says.

It?s undoubtedly good news for the people of Malkangiri. From the sound of it, even Naxalites should be happy. After all, development is what they have been clamouring for. So, if a road brings development, what?s wrong with it? You might ask. An awful lot, the Naxalites retort.

Roads, they argue, will not only bring development, but also the police to a village?s doorstep. As of now, the security forces, out to snare the ultras, are greatly hamstrung by the lack of ? or impassability of ? roads in most areas in the district. So for the Naxalites, tar roads mean nothing but truckloads of security men.

?We want schools, water tanks and health centres, but no roads or culverts,? the hand-written posters, which have sprouted in village after village, proclaim. District collector Manish Kumar Verma describes the Naxalites as ?anti-development?. ?There has to be a road in the first place if a village is to be developed,? he says.

But the Maoists see red in the government?s sudden zeal to sketch in new roads in a grim landscape of poverty. And with good reason. For them, it would not be a path to prosperity ? but to eventual doom, as a police officer puts it.

The extremists are all too aware that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.