A crane that the Maoists set ablaze at Borda in Ganjam. Picture by Gopal Krishna Reddy

Berhampur, Jan. 19: Maoists set ablaze four vehicles, including two tractors and a tipper, inside the camp of a contractor of a road being built under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) and made off with the supervisor’s bike in Borda village of Ganjam district last night.

A Maoist poster they stuck to a tree outside the camp cautioned the contractor not to construct the PMGSY road with machines and asked him to engage labourers. The Maoists also asked the contractor to pay Rs 200 as daily wages to women labourers. While men labourers get Rs 200 per day, the wages of women vary between Rs 120 and Rs 150.

“Four drivers and I were sleeping in the camp office when about 10 people, including two women Maoists, armed with sophisticated arms knocked on the door around midnight. When we opened the door, they ordered us to hand over our mobile phones. We gave them all the five mobile phones to them,” said Bansidhar Sethi, supervisor of the camp.

“The Maoists asked us to drive all the vehicles to the middle of the road. They brought a diesel jar from the camp too. We had a stock of about 10 litre of diesel to meet emergency. The Maoists poured diesel over three vehicles, except the tipper, and set fire to them,” said one of the drivers. Soon after, they left in the tipper and on the bike of the supervisor.

Madhab Sahu, the driver of the tipper, said the Maoists climbed into the tipper and ordered him to drive up to Merikote, 10km away. “I was frightened and drove the tipper up to Merikote where another 15 Maoists were waiting. They asked me to leave and started setting fire to the tipper. It was the most terrible experience of my life,” he said.

The supervisor said the contractor Santosh Kumar Sahu is from Daringibadi in Kandhamal district. “The 11-km long Borda-Merikote road began to be built under the PMGSY last year. We have never before received any Maoists threats,” the supervisor said. “We informed the Badagada police station, 18-km away, about the incident over phone at 9am today.” Police didn’t arrive at the spot till 2pm, sources said.

Maoists have called a bandh in Daringibadi today protesting against an encounter at Kasipur. They have felled trees on Gajalbadi-Daringibadi road and blocked it. Shops and business establishments downed their shutters at Daringibadi in Kandhamal district, according to sources.

Construction company ARSS is building the 110-km long Mohana-Paralakhemundi double road at a cost of Rs 180-crore for the last few days. All machinery used for construction was kept at the office complex in Pindiki village about four km from Mohana.

Maoists have been on the rampage in Gajapati since December. They set ablaze 14 vehicles of a construction company and a mobile phone tower at Pindiki near Mohana town in Gajapati about 60km from here on December 21.

“On December 21, about 40-50 armed rebels came when we were sleeping inside the office complex around 2am. They locked up all the four night watchers in a room while one of their cadres kept strict. Soon, they set ablaze the vehicles and the machinery. They also handed over a handwritten letter for journalists,” an eyewitness said.