Berhampur (Orissa): Maoists set ablaze at least three mobile towers at Baragada area in Ganjam district of Orissa on the first day of the two-day state-wide bandh called by them.
Armed rebels stormed into Goudagotha and Baroda
villages in Maoist infested Ganjam-Kandhamal-Gajapati border
and set afire mobile towers of BSNL and a private company in
the early hours, police said.
The left-wing ultras also pasted posters asking people
to make the bandh a success and to protest anti-naxal
operation.
This was the second major incident of the Maoists in
the district in the last 20 days.
The ultras had blown up fivem mobile towers of private
cellular operators at Asurabandha (3) and Gajalabadi (2) on
December 16, they said.
A senior police officer said the ultras did not blow
up the towers by using explosives this time. They burnt the
cables by using husk and kerosene.
Meanwhile, normal life in the part of Kandhamal
district was affected due the bandh of the Maoist. While the
vehicles were off the roads in several places in Ganjam and
Kandhamal districts, shops and business establishments downed
their shutters in Daringibadi, Bramhanigaon and Kotagarh areas
in Kandhamal district.
The shutdown has been called in protest against
killing of top Maoist leader Kishenji.
PTI
