BHUBINESWAR: A wide stretch of the Malkangiri sub-di vision has become liberated zone where only the writ of the Peoples War Group (PWG) runs. All government officers in the Poplar and Mavenkonda panchayat have been chased away.

Encouraged by the success Naxalites led by Kondapalli Siraramaya have threatened 10 liberate another 100 villages along the Orissa- Andhra border from government rule. Thousands of pamphlets have been distributed in the border area in the last fort- night on the Nasals” plans

Most of these villages fall in the 170 km area between on the Orissa side and Manjusha on the Andhra side of the border. The center area has thick forest cover and has become the hotbed of PWG activities. The other threatened area is the Malkangri subdivision of Kora put district which about the East Godavar Khamam and Vishakapatnm districts of Andhra Pradesh on the other. All these districts are known for Naxalites activities and the militants easily cross over from one state to the other when the police mountain offensive against them.

“The Naxalites have set January 15 as the deadline to carry out their threat which has assumed significance in view of their de- hand for the creation of a separate state including parts of the tribal dominated areas of Orissa Madhya Pradesh and Andorra Pradesh The demand for the creation of Dandakaranya stales ion of MP and Bhadrachalam areas of AP was made nearly three months ago.

Armed with AK-47s sternums and high tech bombs and mining equipment the Naxalites: at Malkangiri brook no resistance. The Janata Dal MLA from the area Naka Kanaya had a brush with them in July when they came to his village Podiya to settle some dispute. At his doorstep they beat up the Podiya block Janata Dal__ secretary Padmacharan Mari who was subsequently killed by them on July 21. In the same month they killed another Janata Dal worker Kartik Haldar a Bangladeshi settler.

Besides these murders there have been a number of cases of assault on policemen and government officials mainly forest department officials. A senior forest ranger presently posted at Jeypore in Kora put district some time ago had_ sought police protection having incurred the wrath of the Naxalites by saving a junior col- Teague from their grips in Chitrakonda block of Malkangiri MLAK Anaya said.” The situation is appalling with government virtually unable to do anything al- most everybody in the area lives in permanent far of the Naxalites who strike a will. My own house is being guarded by the police and special police pickets have been posted at vulnerable points in Malkangiri sub-division but the police are not only out numbered. But also outclassed by the Naxalites who possess sophisticated weapons”.

His situation is similar in Parlakhemundi sub-division of Ganjam district with nearly 50 villages in Mahendragiri block having passed under the control of Naxalites. Villages like Mandumenta KartabadiJenapur Tulsipur and Padnapur are believed to have been turned into training centers by the Naxalites.

The police operation against the Naxalites has failed mainly be- cause of the topography of the area which makes the movement of police men difficult and the fact that the Naxalites have come to enjoy the support and sympathy of the tribals who they protect from exploitation by government contractors and forest department official The case is painfully to in Malkangiri sub-division where the unemployed and landless tribals with virtually no means of subsistence are now engaged in cleaning and cultivating large traces of forestland illegally with the help of Naxalites who keep the prying forest department official at bay.

The limitations of coercive measures have come to be realized by the chief minister Biju Painaik who in a surprising show of sympathy for the Naxalites recently said: “I am the first Naxalites”. His government plans to launch special development programs in the area of Naxalites activity buying is hand strung by paucity funds.

Article extracted from this publication >> October 4, 1991