Friday, May 7, 2010

Maoists keep them in misery

Feb 28,2010 issue of Governance Now

If you thought Maoists are the guardian angels of tribals who have taken up arms to end exploitation and under-development of the tribal areas of central India, think again. Visit the heartland of the Maoists — the Dandakaranya forest that spreads through Bastar in Chhattisgarh and adjoining districts of Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra and from where they run their Janatana Sarkars — and you will know how they are actually perpetuating misery of the very people they profess to fight for by cutting off the region completely off the rest of the country and preventing development work.

R. Sangeeta, CEO of zila panchayats of two of the worst hit districts of Chhattisgarh -- Narainpur and Bastar — narrates her predicament. She does not sanction any development work to Orcha block that forms 70 percent of Narainpur district. And that is because the money goes directly into the hands of Maoists. Secondly, as no official or vehicle is allowed to enter the area (save for primary school teachers, medics and vehicles carrying PDS supply) there is no way of verifying work done either.

Orcha is in the thick of Abujhmar forest — a base area forming parts of Kanker, Narainpur and Bijapur of Chhattisgarh and Gadchiroli of Maharashtra and from where Maoists run one of their Janatana Sarkars. It is, connected with a 60-km-long bad road from Narainpur either side of which is uninhabited and covered with thick jungles. The Maoists would allow no contractor to repair the road so that no outsider enters the area. Sangeeta travelled to Orcha just once in her one-year tenure so far and has no intention of doing it ever again.
“Not only the road is extremely bad, it is close to a river. Once it is dark, a small mistake would land the vehicle in the river. There are no villages, no mobile connectivity in the area leading to Orcha. If the vehicle breaks down, there is no way of getting any help from outside.”

She hasn’t sanctioned any development work for two-thirds of Bastar (the other district under her charge) either.

How did Maoists, who claim to represent the marginalised, turned against development? Sangeeta explains: “The Maoists fought for development in Andhra Pradesh but when development actually happened in the 1980s, they lost their support base. They learnt their lessons. And so, when they moved into Chhattisgarh, they started hindering development.”
n Roads are their prime target. All roads leading to their two bases in Chhattisgarh —Abujhmar and south Dantewada— have innumerable cuts and are not allowed to be repaired. Some parts of Bastar are accessible only from Andhra Pradesh. It helps in two ways: it keeps the base cut off and makes it easy to lay landmines, which are often used to target any vehicle venturing into the area.

Dantewada Superintendent of Police Amresh Mishra says Maoists allow only those activities that are essential for their sustenance. “Except for PDS and medical supply, nothing else is allowed. No development is allowed. Schools, anganwadis, roads, electric polls, mobile towers, everything is blasted. Students are discouraged to move out to city for the fear that they will turn police informers.”
The data compiled by Bastar officials show that since 2001, Maoists have destroyed 75 school buildings, 29 hostels, 15 anganwadis and 128 other government buildings in the region. They have also damaged 164 roads and 17 brides and culverts.
Two school buildings that came up in Palnar in Kuakunda block of Dantewada were destroyed in the first week of November – the night before these were to be thrown open. Though Maoists claim such buildings are destroyed to prevent security camps being set up, it isn’t true. A permanent CRPF camp exists less than half a km away.
Nine kilometres further down south, in Shameli, a hostel for girls lies in a shambles. It was destroyed by Maoists a little over two years ago. The state government’s slogan “Nari Padhegi, Vikas Gadhegi” has, apparently, no meaning for the Maoists.

Cross over to Malkangiri in Orissa (part of Dandakaranya) and the situation is worse. Even the roads of the district headquarters are in a pathetic condition because no contractor is willing to take up work. Arterial roads have not been repaired since 2001. The centre’s plan to build a Ranchi-Vijayawada corridor though the rebel-hit districts of Orissa, including Malkangiri, remains on the drawing board. The road passing through Korapur, Raygada, Phulbani and Nayagarh (all rebel-hit districts) on way to Bhubaneswar is so bad that you actually pity the bus drivers. As you are about to enter Govindpalli in north Malkangiri (a Maoist stronghold) your mobile stops working.

Maoists have established two base areas in Malkangiri—the main one is located on the south-eastern part and called “Cut-off Area” because a block comprising of nearly 150 villages are completely cut off from rest of the state by a reservoir and two rivers and the Eastern Ghat hills. It is a safe haven for Maoists, where they are hiding now. Since late 1990s, the administration has been trying to build a bridge on the Gurupriya river to establish a link with the area. Dozens of tenders have been floated but Maoists frighten away the contractors every time. In 2006, Gammon India tried to be brave but the rebels blasted its storehouse and ordered the contractor to leave. He fled and the project was abandoned.

The only construction in Malkangiri in recent years is of ‘shahid smaraks’ memorials for martyrs). There is even a bus stand close to Gammon India’s abandoned project site dedicated to these “martyrs”.

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