Ranchi, June 10: Babulal Marandi's call for a 48-hour economic blockade in protest against the Raghubar Das government's local residents' policy, starting tomorrow, has not just galvanised the Opposition to back the JVM, but also mobilised government machinery to foil it, in what looks like an Us-and-Them politics of power to be played across the state.
JVM's economic blockade, meant specifically to stop the transport of the state's wealth - ores, coal and sand - will affect mining hubs West Singhbhum, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Hazaribagh, Ramgarh, parts of Ranchi and Santhal Pargana. The party, which criticised the local residents' policy on the grounds that its six criteria diluted adivasi and moolvasi claims to government benefits, decided to mark its protest by choking the export of the state's wealth.
One of JVM's spokespersons, Saroj Singh said the blockade would neither affect normal life in towns and cities and nor would they force shops to close. "Our bandh is only against ferrying our state's mineral wealth to other places. So, only transport of coal, iron, sand and similar items will be blocked at entry and exit points and other places where possible," he said.
In and around Ranchi, where foiling the JVM economic blockade - backed by JMM and almost the entire Opposition - has become a prestige issue for the government, the police are focused on national and state highways and railways.
On his part, state DGP D.K. Pandey claimed they were prepared to safeguard highways and railway lines. "We have told SSPs and SPs standard operating procedures, dos and don'ts. Our focus is to ensure common people don't face problem and government property stays protected," he said.
"We will deploy enough forces at key points on state and national highways connecting Ranchi with Khelari, Lohardaga and Gumla," SSP Kuldeep Dwivedi said. Lohardaga and Gumla are bauxite and stone-quarry hubs while Khelari, which falls in Ranchi district, has railway sidings of Central Coalfields.
Traffic SP Manoj Ratan Chothe, on his part, said if anyone in Ranchi faced inconvenience during the blockade, they could call helpline numbers such as 9931606100 (traffic control room), 9431706140 (traffic SP), 9431107448 (traffic DSP) and 9431706172 (traffic police station in-charge, Lalpur).
A senior policeman, not willing to be named, maintained their intelligence reports suggested protesters had chalked out some 122 blockade points across the state of which 11 are in Ranchi.
"We don't want to reveal numbers but we have sufficient personnel. We are trying to get blockade points that are mainly transit routes and entry and exit points in the capital district, under CCTV cover. Preventive arrests will be made from the word go," the senior policeman added.
"Railway police will monitor activities inside stations, good trains and tracks on crossings," he added.
Bus owners, however, are hoping for a normal day.
