Berhampur: Maoists torched four vehicles of a construction company engaged in road construction near Balimaha village situated in a remote area in Baliguda police station area of Kandhamal district late on Wednesday night. The rebels were believed to be opposing the construction of the 12-km-long concrete road from Kurtumagarh to Gumudumah.

The agency, owned by Bholanath Behera, has been carrying out the construction of the road under the state government's rural development department since last year. The construction of the road was ordered after the Gumudumah firing on July 8, 2016, in which five innocent persons were killed during an exchange of fire between the Maoists and the security forces. The Maoists had earlier warned the agency of dire consequences if they dared to build the road and asked it to suspend the work with immediate effect, said a police officer. The construction camp office is situated only four kilometres away from Gumudumah on the Kandhamal-Kalahandi border.

Kandhamal police superintendent Prateek Singh said that the security forces had intensified combing in the area. "This is believed to be the handiwork of the Kandhamal-Kalahandi-Balangir-Nayagarh division of the outlawed outfit," he said.

The Maoists had earlier threatened the road project's supervisor to stop the work as they feared that a police camp would be set up at Gumudumah to contain their rebellious activities once they road came up.

A group of about fifty armed Maoists entered into project camp site on Wednesday night and set ablaze an excavator, three tractors and a concrete mixture machine apart from other machineries. After destroying the machineries, the rebels left behind their leaflets and posters at the site. There were 15 employees of the company at the site when the Maoists entered.

Replying to a question about why the construction of the road did not complete even after a year since it started, an employee of the construction company said that transportation of materials, levelling of road and shortage of labour posed serious problems as the place is situated in an inaccessible area.

The Maoists also pasted their posters in public places at Mundigada in Tumudibandha block in Kandhamal district on Thursday.