The nationwide bandh called by the banned CPI (Maoist) on Thursday passed off peacefully with no untoward incident in the Visakhapatnam Agency area.
“The bandh has no impact. Normal life has not been affected in any mandal, including the Maoist strongholds,” claim the police.
Superintendent of Police A. Babujee said APSRTC buses operated as per schedule even in vulnerable mandals such as Munchingput, Chintapalli, G.K. Veedhi, G. Madugula and Pedabayalu. Shops and establishments functioned as usual, he said.
The tribal people, instead of supporting the bandh call, denounced it, he added. The bandh was called as part of the “protest week” being observed by the left wing extremists.
A couple of days ago, posters printed in the name of the ‘Adivasi Vidyardhi Sangham’ and a few other tribal organisations surfaced in the Pedabayalu and Munchingput regions condemning the bandh call.
Security tightened
Meanwhile, security was enhanced in the entire Agency area. “Combing operation and area domination exercise have been undertaken in all the strategic mandals. We forayed into the forested areas of AOB,” the SP said.