Bhubaneswar: Security forces are gearing up to launch an all-out war against Maoists in Malkangiri after the state government has made the newly constructed Gurupriya bridge functional.
"The rebels had turned this area into their stronghold, taking advantage of its inaccessibility. However, with construction of the bridge, the people inhabiting the 151 villages in this belt lying beyond the Balimela reservoir have been connected with the mainland. The bridge also gives us a distinct advantage in our war against the rebels. We are going to launch a decisive operation shortly," said a senior police officer, requesting anonymity.
The 910-metre-long bridge had been planned in 1986 but could not be completed because of the reluctance of contractors, who feared Maoist attacks. After several failed attempts, the Rs 187.25-crore project had taken off in 2014 with two platoons of BSF standing guard at the site round the clock. Inaugurating the bridge on July 26, chief minister Naveen Patnaik called upon the rebels to give up violence and join the mainstream. "Violence is not the solution to anything. Peace is important for development," he had said.
The region has been a Maoist stronghold since long. The rebels had ambushed and gunned down 32 elite Greyhound commandos of Andhra Pradesh police and a police constable in the Balimela reservoir while the jawans were returning from a combing operation in the "cut-off" area. The area had gained further notoriety in February 2011 when the Maoists abducted the then Malkangiri collector, R. Vineel Krishna, from the area.
Last year, the rebels had shot a boatman dead at the spillway ghat at Chitrakonda suspecting him to be a police informer. The Maoists, who had accused Shyam Pangi of ferrying food material for the BSF jawans deployed near the ghat, carried out the killing.
Malkangiri police superintendent Jagmohan Meena had trashed the allegations of the Maoists, asserting that the rebels were deliberately targeting poor people after branding them as "informers" to spread panic.
