In Maoist heartland,Orissa faces manpower crisis,officers in a bind

“As politicians we have to visit our people at night during emergencies. It’s not possible for us to have restricted movement,” said Jeypore MLA Rabi Narayan Nanda.

Koraput District Collector Sachin Jadhav agreed that the abduction would pose impediments for free movement of officials. “For any district collector there are four grievance cell meetings of which three have to be in interior areas. In the interior areas no villager would come forward with their grievances if there are too many securitymen. In these meetings,the Maoists take the shield of local people. If I take securitymen with me,how many would be enough? We have to strike a balance between duty and threat perception,” said Jadhav.

After the abduction,some BDOs and tehsildars have let known to their collectors in the Maoist areas that they can’t go to interior areas.

Last year,when Malkangiri DM was abducted by the Maoists in the cut-off area of the district,the immediate consequence was a total stop in developmental activities in that area. Since February last year,no government official has visited the 150-odd villages in the cut-off area barring health workers for routine vaccination.

Recently,the state government posted a BDO in Kudumulgumma block under which the cut-off area comes,but the person has refused to join insisting that he would work from Jeypore in neighbouring Koraput district.

With the Maoists calling the shots in Malkangiri,over 500 vacancies,including key posts such as Sub-Collector,continue to remain vacant.

In Orissa,there are 19 districts affected by Maoist violence of which Koraput,Malkangiri and Kandhamal are the worst-affected. What has become a headache for the government is the lack of manpower in these districts.

“In Koraput there are 200 vacancies. There is no BDO in Bandhugaon,a haven of Maoists. The District Project Coordinator of Sarba Siksha Abhiyan looks after the Excise department as there is no superintendent. There are 55 vacancies of doctors in Koraput,” said an official of the state’s Planning and Coordination department.