Maredumilli Tribal People Disbelieve Two Encounters on Successive Days
There is a section of tribals who are happy that with the elimination of Maoists, their villages will no longer be branded as hotbeds of the Maoist movement.
Vijayawada: Local tribal people of Maredumilli area in Alluri Sitarama Raju district find unconvincing claims about exchanges of fire between Maoists and police during the last two days, leading to the death of 13 Maoists and their sympathisers.
Tribal people involved in farming and petty business in the Maredumilli region of Rampachodavaram agency area pointed out that the area is no longer a safe zone for Maoists, who have not visited the agency region for several years.
The Adivasi are wondering why Maoist Central Committee member Madvi Hidma and others would visit such an area only to die in an encounter with the police.
Tribals pointed out that currently it is the winter season. A large number of tourists visit Maredumilli, Gudisa and other tourist attractions to enjoy the thick growth of vegetation, deep valleys, water bodies and hair-pin bend roads steeply going up and down. Tourism resorts in the area are running to their full capacity. Adivasi wonder why Maoists would visit the agency during such a time and expose themselves.
Significantly, some tribals have pointed out that in case some Maoists had been killed on Tuesday in an encounter, remaining Maoists and their aides would have fled the area immediately to avoid combing operations in the wake of the encounter.
“Under the circumstances, how could Maoists have been killed in the same region the very next day,” tribal leaders point out. Most tribals suspect that the Maoists would have been brought to Maredumilli and killed in staged encounters.
However, AP DGP Harish Kumar Gupta and Mahesh Chandra Laddha, ADGP (Intelligence) has made it clear that there is no need for police to fake an encounter with Maoists. The DGP maintained that the two exchanges of fire are genuine.
Adivasi Sankshema Parishad general secretary K. Srinu said, “Following central government’s announcement of Operation Kagar, a good number of even top Maoist leaders and their aides had surrendered to police, while some others had been planning to do so. It is not good to eliminate Maoists in encounters when they are planning to surrender. This will make others hesitate to surrender and continue their fight for the rights of the people.”
There is a section of tribals who are happy that with the elimination of Maoists, their villages will no longer be branded as hotbeds of the Maoist movement. They expect their villages to get rid of their bad name and witness developmental works like laying of roads and construction of schools and hospitals.