Telangana police security for road works in Maoist areas
The Maoists, according to the police, do not want roads as it results in development.
HYDERABAD: Telangana police will be providing security to contractors and road laying machinery in Maoist affected areas of the state. The move follows the Left Wing Extremists (LWE) killing contractors and damaging machinery in the adjoining Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand states in their bid to stop the road laying works. With the financial assistance of the Union government, the state government has been taking up development of roads in Maoist affected areas of Telangana at a cost of Rs 550 crore approximately.
The Central government will provide funds to an extent of Rs 287.31 crore, the state government will bear the remaining cost of Rs 259.65 crores under the Road Connectivity Project for Left Wing Extremism Affected Areas (RCPLWEA) for the year 2017-18. “Tenders are being called for the works and we hope to complete it in a year-and-a-half. Assistance of police is being sought in pockets of the state, including Kothagudem, Cherla and Venkatapuram which border Chhattisgarh,” said P. Satish, chief engineer, road and building department.
The 452-kilometre road will cover four districts of Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal and Khammam and connect the Maoist affected areas of Telangana with those in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. Both the Union and the state governments aim to strengthen road connectivity between the three states as well as provide better transport facility to people living in remote areas in the Maoist infested areas.
On the law and order front, the police feel it would enable movement of heavy vehicles as well as provide a strategic advantage for the security forces to make in-roads into the Maoist affected areas. The Maoists, according to the police, do not want roads as it results in development. “More particularly, they cannot plant mines on the roads which result in heavy casualties in security forces during their movements.
After getting suggestions from the security agencies, the government is emphasising on constructing cement roads. A senior police official, working in the Maoist affected districts, said that whenever big projects like laying of roads and irrigation projects are taken up, the security is provided to the site and the workers. “At times, the district police provide the security cover or assistance is sought from the Central Para Military Forces (CPMF),” he said.