Jamshedpur, June 30: In an unprecedented confidence-building measure during a Maoist bandh, some 150 security personnel today shunned their armoured vehicles and instead boarded goods carriers to escort them along a vulnerable stretch of NH-33.

A 48-hour CPI(Maoist) bandh, which began this morning in protest against a clutch of central policies and the Bhopal gas tragedy verdict, has exempted the railways, raising fears of trouble on state and national highways. East Singhbhum SSP Naveen Kumar Singh said adequate forces had been deployed at strategic locations to ensure an incident-free bandh.

Ghatshila SDPO Anup Birtharay added that they had altered the pattern of patrolling on NH-33. “Every vehicle travelling between Pardih and Ghatshila is being provided with two security personnel on board for both effective patrolling and as a confidence-building measure.” Earlier, anti-landmine vehicles doubled up as escorts. Birtharay said, this time, two-wheelers were being used in addition to armoured vehicles.

The first day of the rebel bandh paralysed both urban and rural life in the twin districts of Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan.

Shops, business establishments and educational institutions remained closed in Ghatshila and Patamda of East Singhbhum. At Chandil and Chowka in neighbouring Seraikela-Kharsawan, industrial units, too, downed shutters.

Only in Bodam block, where villagers have joined forces to fight rebels, the bandh did not evoke any response. Schools and commercial establishments were open.