Maoist bandh in Andhra Pradesh has minimal impact

Vijayawada: The day-long bandh called by the outlawed CPI (Maoist), to protest the recent encounter in the Andhra-Odisha border zone that left at least 24 ultras dead, had little impact in Andhra Pradesh today.

Police, however, stepped up security measures in the tribal-inhabited agency areas of the state as a precautionary measure.
According to police, no untoward incident was reported till noon.

There was an uneasy silence in the agency villages in Visakhapatnam district that border Odisha where the outlaws normally move about.

Visakhapatnam (Rural) Superintendent of Police Rahul Dev Sharma told PTI over the phone that everything remained normal as the bandh call had no impact.
"Buses are plying normally. Businesses are open and even the weekly shandy is running," he said.

Meanwhile, Vizianagaram District Superintendent of Police L K V Ranga Rao also said the bandh had no impact in the Naxal-infested areas of Saluru (rural), Pachipenta, Neelakantapuram and other agency areas.

All the business establishments opened as usual and buses were also running in Naxal-hit areas of the district, the SP said, adding that people on roads were less due to the Nagula Chavithi festival.

According to RTC public relations officer, about two per cent of the inter-state bus services, mainly operating from Vizianagaram to Odisha were affected while all bus services were operating as usual in Vizianagaram district and there was no impact on it due to the bandh