Naxals target rail tracks in J’khand

Even as intensified patrolling was on along the railway tracks, the Maoists managed to blow up tracks between Gomia and Dania in Bokaro district around 2 am, 30 hours after blasting two stretches of tracks at different places in and near Latehar, according to the police. For the second day today, national highways and other roads criss-crossing Naxal strongholds witnessed thin traffic.

“Not less than Rs 20 crore per day must have been lost due to the economic blockade, maximum of the loss incurred as trucks carrying minerals remained off roads,” said president of Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industry Arun Bhudhia. “This loss is apart from that suffered by the Railways,” he added. Sixteen out of the 22 Jharkhand districts are officially stated as Naxal-hit, and most of them are abundant in mineral resources.

The Railways, meanwhile, continued cancellation or rerouting of both passenger and goods trains for the second day, mostly on the Coal India Chord section.

In Bihar, all night trains on the Patna-Gaya, Fatuha-Islampur, Bikramganj-Sasaram and Khagaria-Rosera sections would remain suspended on Wednesday night, East Central Railway officials said. The blockade hit life in Maoist strongholds in rural pockets of Gaya, Jehanabad and Arwal districts but did not have any impact in urban areas.

Very little traffic was seen on roads and market places were closed for the second day at Raniganj, Imamganj and Barachatti in Gaya district, where a foodgrain-laden truck was set ablaze by Naxalites at Mahipur this morning.

The blockade evoked no response in north Bihar districts of Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Madhubani, East and West Champaran, Sitamarhi and Sheohar, all of which have a history of Naxalite violence.