Rajahmundry: In a bid to consolidate their position along the border between Andra Pradesh and Orissa in the Agency area of East Godavari and Visakhapatnam districts, Maoists are on a spree of intimidation and are resorting to violence by killing informers, traders and other hapless tribals in the last few days.
Recently, they abducted the wife of a trader from Dharakonda of G.K. Veedhi in Visakhapatnam district in the afternoon on Monday.
Their movement is palpable in the interior parts of Agency like Pathakota in East Godavari and Neelajartha, Madhimalla, Kongapakalu and Annavaram villages Visakhapatnam.
Abduction of the trader's wife is viewed as a part of their strategy to gain sympathy of the tribals.
As ganja is cultivated widely in Visakhapatnam district in addition to cotton, pulses, coffee, the Maoists are trying to appease tribals by intimidating the traders not to exploit tribals by giving meager wages, under weighing their products and also offering low prices to their produce.
Police sources said that the Maoists are also threatening the tribals of killing them if they acted as informers. They are also killing them if they fail to heed to their warnings.
Maoists are not directly recruiting the tribals youths, but they are engaging them as informers and to supply food.
This is a strategic move by the Maoists by which they are testing the credentials and loyalty of the tribals and recruit them later.
The Maoists are reportedly using blank ammunition and blank fire to threaten the tribals to embrace their ideology and join the movement as most of the tribal youth are reluctant to join the movement. They are interested in pursuing higher education and seeking employment to earn a living.
East Godavari-Visakhapatnam joint divisional committee, a team of 60 to 70 Maoists headed by Krishna, Venkata Ramana, Ravi and others, is active in the Agency area.
As it is easy for the Maoists to escape from the porous border into plains by traveling from Agency areas of Gurtedu, Duscharthi and other interiors to Rajahmundry by road covering a distance of more than 100 km and opt for any mode of transport including road, rail, air and water, the police are generating a databank comprising the photos of the Maoists carrying huge amount of money on their heads as reward to intercept and nab them.
Analysts advocate the need to develop infrastructure in remote villages to have proper access, education, health care to help the tribals avail such facilities and not to get influenced by the Maoists to join their movement.
