Maoists steal sleep from police in Angul

Odisha Channel Bureau Angul, July 3: The presence of Maoists on Angul soil has snatched away sleep from the eyes of top police brass who till date were contended with their successes in the Maoist-infested districts of undivided Koraput, Keonjhar and Ganjam and other areas.Police is on their toes now with multiple anti-Maoists measures in the district to knock out any presence of armed Left wing extremists amid the unconfirmed reports of their plan to make Sambalpur-Dogarh-Handappa (Angul)-Boudh corridor.“Nothing can be ruled out or confirmed at this stage as it is too early make a comment on it after the hour long encounter between security forces and Maoists in Patrapara jungle under Chhendipada police station on Monday,” asserted Narasigh Bhol, Superintendent of Police of Angul district.Unlike other districts Angul is the one of most industrialised districts not only in the State but also in the nation having couple of heavy public and private sector industries mostly on coal, power, aluminium and steel.Another Maoist attraction to this district, according to a senior police officer here is the ganja and opium cultivation which is blooming over the years over hundreds of acres of land under Chhendipada, Jarapara, Handappa, and Purunakote police station areas.“Most interestingly that the ultras were seen three times recently by locals in areas where ganja is being cultivated and the exchange of fire also took place at Kanaloi hill, a place of massive ganja cultivation,” the police official observed.The Superintendent of Police is neither denying nor confirming any possibility of the formation of a new corridor via Angul district.He admits the appearance of armed cadres at several villages should not been as stray incidents.“A group of armed Maoists on June 15 first appeared at a remote village Laxmipur under Thakurgarh police station where they spent two hours before they melted into deep forests.After three days, the particular group showed themselves at the villages of Citikoile and Kandhakoili on the outskirts of Satkosia where they hardly spent half an hour.On June 26 they were again spotted by locals under Handappa police station areas.Early on June 30 morning the combing units of police had a faceoff with them on the borders of Deogarh district,” he informed.The group or groups may be on their way back from Boudh to Jharkhand or sneaked into Angul border after being cornered in Sambalpur.‘Now police is leaving no stone unturned to deal with the menace by taking multiple measures like strengthening intelligence networks, launching combing operations and induction of district voluntary force into the anti-Maoist operations among others,” the SP added.Years before, armed Maoists from Keonjhar had intruded into Nagira panchayat of Pallahara Sub-Division of the district and were motivating tribals there in the absence of any developmental works.There were several combing operations there and finally the extremists had quit the area.