Nagpur: On the eve of their bandh, the Maoists struck by setting a Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra’s (FDCM) firewood depot on fire at Mulchera in Gadchiroli on Thursday. They also destroyed documents in an adjacent check-post, blocked the road between Adange and Surjagad and distributed pamphlets on their ideology on the Etapalli-Kasansur Road.
This was the seventh case of arson by Maoists in the district this year. They also issued threats to the forest department personnel to stop venturing deep and warned them to stop work.
The armed Maoists barged into the depot in the early hours of Thursday and set 400-500 non-teak varieties of wood on fire. The depot reported a loss of around Rs5 lakhs.
Sources said the guerrillas dragged the security guard out of the depot before setting the logs on fire. The guard was also manhandled by the Maoists.
Later, the Maoists also barged into the adjacent forest department check-post and set some documents on fire. The reds collected the documents, which were mostly records of vehicles passing by, and made a bonfire in the middle of the road.
The depot and the road adjacent to it had several Maoist banners and pamphlets strewn around on the ground. According to the literature, Friday’s bandh is to protest against the killings of their cadres and villagers in fake encounters in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh last month.
A senior forest official said there is no foolproof security system in place for the safety of the personnel and properties in the Maoist zone and remaining alert is the only safeguard that one can practice.
Sources from the district said the Maoists had blocked a road between Koti and Bhamragadh by felling trees near Kier village and also erected banners across trees. The road has remained closed for traffic since the last two days.
In another development, the Maoists blocked Adange-Surjagadh road by felling trees and tying banners on them. The reds have appealed to the masses to make their bandh call successful. They have urged the people of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Chhatisgarh and Madhya Pradesh to also join in.
