Bhubaneswar, Feb. 21: The Odisha government plans to raise two engineering battalions in the state police organisation to take up construction activities in Maoist-hit areas, as private contractors are not willing to execute work there because of Naxal threats.

“Two engineering battalions will be commissioned in Odisha Police to take up construction activities in Naxal-affected areas. This will facilitate improvement in infrastructure facilities in Naxal-affected areas where private contractors are unwilling to take up construction work,” said governor M.C. Bhandare while delivering his address to the Odisha Assembly today.

Construction of four important bridges in Malkangiri, which shares a border with Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, could not be taken up because of the Maoist threat. These bridges could have benefited 151 remote, cut-off villages in the region. The most important among the proposed bridges is the Gurupriya bridge at Janbai, which would connect cut-off areas of Chitrakonda. Chitrakonda has turned into a major Maoist haven.

Sileru bridge at Motu would create a link with Andhra Pradesh, while the Dumpal bridge at Podia and Chakabadka bridge at Mahupada would establish links with Chhattisgarh.

No progress has been made on the projects. The Odisha government had already submitted a proposal to the Centre to construct the Gurupriya bridge at Janbai at an estimated cost of Rs 70 crore to connect Chitrakonda in the Maoist-hit Malkangiri district.

Official sources said that because of the Maoist menace in these parts, the Odisha government was unable to build the four bridges. Earlier, a major construction company, Gammon India Limited, had backed out from the Gurupriya bridge project because of Maoist threats.

“The Odisha government had earlier approached the Border Road Organisation (BRO) to help the state in executing the project. But as the BRO refused to take up the work, the state government is planning to build the bridge with the help of its own police force,” said a senior official.

The governor, on the other hand, said the state government had taken steps to intensify anti-Maoist operations by adding 1,066 more posts in the elite Special Operations Group. Besides, 70 police stations are under construction in Maoist-affected areas at a cost of Rs 140 crore, he added.

Bhandare said the number deaths of security personnel in Maoist violence had come down from 22 in 2010 to 15 in 2011. The number of cases of Naxal violence had dropped significantly from 130 to in 2010 to 100 in 2011, he said.