Day 1 Of Maoist Encounter Protests Ends Peacefully

Paranoia gripped rural areas in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh after news of former sarpanch Jayanth of Bhawanipatna mandal in Odisha across the AP-Odisha border getting shot point-blank by Maoists after accusing him of being a police informant, surfaced.

Panicked, people in the agency areas in TS, AP and Odisha remained indoors. This coupled with the ongoing protests by Maoists across Telangana made several places in areas infested by Maoist influence reel under tension and uncertainty. Though by and large the bandh did not see any major untoward incident in both the Telugu States.

Many villages and towns in the agency areas of both the Telugu States observed the bandh even as armed police personnel stepped up search operations in hotels and lodges to flush out Maoist sympathisers. At many places in these areas. buses did not ply as the authorities withdrew their services as a precautionary measure.

Armed police forces comprising of the CRPF and other paramilitary forces were deployed at all key locations that lead to the agency areas and those connecting Chhattisgarh and Odisha.

Bus services, both government and private, were cancelled in Mundigattu, G Madugula, Pedabayalu, G K Veedhi and in other places in Visakhapatnam. Very few buses plied between Paderu and Vizag, and also in Araku and Narsipatnam, which were known to be sympathetic to Maoists. Even in the Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts, police had to step up vigilance as some villages and towns observed bandh out of fear.

In villages including Jaishankar and in the Warangal district, which are known for having Maoist influence, the police focused on operations to thwart any untoward incident.

Though most of the top Maoist leaders hail from the Warangal district, especially in the surrounding agency areas of Parakala, there was no much impact of the bandh.

Despite the uneasy calm and tension prevailing in the Maoist infested areas in both the Telugu States, the Maoist bandh passed off without any major incidents except for crippling the bus services in the remote villages.