The Malkangiri district administration has come out to provide all support and security to villagers of Swabhiman Anchal in Odisha who opposed the diktat of Maoists to oppose development works and road construction.
To express their wrath, Maoists had torched 10 houses and seven bikes at Jodambo of Swabhiman Anchal on January 26. On January 27, Malkangiri Collector Manish Agarwal and Superintendent of Police Khilari Rishikesh Dnyandeo visited the camp of the Border Security Force at Hantalguda and held discussions with families of victims.
Rice promised
The Collector assured that each victim’s family would be provided a new house under the Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana and ₹30,000 from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. Each family will also get 50 kg of rice and free cooked food for a week. The Collector also provided ₹3000 to each of these families for day-to-day expenses.
According to the SP, residents of Jodambo, Badapada, Paparmetla panchayats, who were earlier supporting Maoists out of fear, have started realising the importance of government initiatives for road connectivity and development projects, which are opposed by Naxals. On January 25 night, an armed Maoist was killed and another was seriously injured when Janturai villagers in Jodambo panchayat bravely retaliated against a group of armed Maoists, who had come to terrorise the villagers asking them to oppose road construction. As a revenge, the Naxalites had resorted to arson at Jodambo.
Security up
To safeguard villagers of these panchayats from Maoist violence, security had been heightened in the area.
Improvement in communication, benefits of development projects of the State government and increased penetration of security forces have turned the villagers against the Maoists. Increased area domination by the security forces has facilitated public delivery system. “These villagers now feel that after 70 years of Independence they should no more remain underdeveloped and should not use mules for their transportation only because Maoists oppose road communication and development,” said Deputy Inspector General of Police, South-West Range, Shefeen Ahmed. K.
‘Operation Swabhiman’
From January 12, security forces had taken up ‘Operation Swabhiman’ for five days to enable ghat cutting work for around 9 km from Hantalguda to Jodambo, which will help in enhancing road connectivity within Swabhiman Anchal. While the locals are enthusiastic about this enhancement in communication, Maoists oppose it.
Lack of road communication with mainland Odisha had kept Swabhiman Anchal, the erstwhile cut off area of Balimela reservoir underdeveloped and a safe haven for Maoists for decades. The Gurupriya bridge connected this cut off area with Odisha mainland in 2018. The State government had initiated a special package for the development of Swabhiman Anchal.
