A probe by the Orissa Police into the April 4 landmine blast in Koraput district that killed 11 jawans of States elite anti-Maoist force Special Operation Group has found that the jawans assigned to act as road opening party erred by not going on foot. The jawans were on their way to Govindapalli in Malkangiri district from Baipariguda in Koraput district as part of their duty to clear the road and escort CRPF jawans when the landmine exploded at Govindapalli Ghati,a hilly road. The impact of the blast was so severe that the 11 jawans died on the spot while the vehicle was blown up by at least 25 feet up in the air before falling into a ditch below. Severed parts of the jawans bodies were found clinging to the trees. The landmine blast left a 3 feet crater on the road. The blast left 8 policemen injured,one of them serious. Koraput SP Arun Kumar Sahu who conducted the probe is reported to have found that the SOG jawans erred by not going on foot and flouting a standing instruction to the same. Road opening parties are supposed to clear the road by walking. But in this case they took it easy fully aware that an ambush could have been set up by the Maoists. We are probing why the order was flouted, said a police official. Earlier,director of State Intelligence Prakash Mishra had said the the jawans may have become too complacent which led to the incident. The official said the jawans had the tendency to hop on the vehicle after walking for sometime. This proved fatal. Now we have to take corrective measures so that such mistakes are not repeated in future, he said. The probe has also found that not less than 20 kg of IEDs,enough to blow up even a Landmine Protected Vehicle,were used for the blast. Police sources said that the joint operation by the BSF,SOG and the State Police soon after the Dantewada massacre last week did not yield any result. Though the Chhatisgarh police had sent us a message that some of the Maoists might have crossed over to Orissa through Saveri river. But we did not come across any rebels during the operation, said a police official. The official said a Unmanned Aerial Vehicle has already flown over the Malkangiri forests taking pictures of the Maoist activities on ground. We would soon launch another operation using the data, the official said. Meanwhile,Maoist-hit Narayanpatna block in Orissas Koraput district remained cut off from the rest of the state for more than a week after the rebels blew up a portion of a bridge last week. Officials of Koraput district agreed that movement of vehicular traffic was yet to begin on the 22 km stretch between Laxmipur and Narayanpatna area after the bridge was blown up. No district official has visited the area while phone lines have gone dead. Koraput collector Rajesh Patil said traffic to Narayanpatna will resume in a couple of days after police examine all security aspects. With no government officials entering the area fearing Maoist violence,prices of essential commodities have gone up sharply in remote areas. The Maoist threat has also affected the ongoing census operation in Malkangiri,Koraput and Raygada district. Director of Census in Orissa,Bishnupada Sethi said the progress is not satisfactory in those districts. Meanwhile the Ministry of Home Affairs has approved the State governments request of sending 3 more battalions of CRPF to the State. These battalions would be deployed in northern and north-western Orissa districts of Mayurbhanj,Keonjhar and Sundargarh.
