Malkangiri: Armed Maoists destroyed a mobile tower in Orissa`s Malkangiri district on Tuesday on the fifth day of their PLGA week which affected normal life in rebel infested pockets, police said.
Over 60 slogan shouting ultras including women struck near the mobile tower of a private operator and its machine room at Kiang under Mathili police station in the wee hours and set it on fire pouring petrol, Malkangiri superintendent of police Anirudha Kumar Singh said. The mobile tower was on the only one catering to the need of the entire area. The ultras had destroyed the same tower twice earlier.
Cadres from Malkangiri Dalam and Darva Dalam of Chattishgarh are believed to have been involved in the vandalism, Singh said.
Meanwhile, the Maoists had dug up the main road connecting Raipur and Jagadalpur via Malkangiri disrupting traffic on the busy route. They have also felled trees at a few places to block the traffic. As a result, hundreds of trucks carrying essential commodities and other vehicles were seen stranded on either side of the road.
Normal life was affected in areas including Kalimela, Motu, Padia, MV 79 and Chitrakonda as shops remained closed, vehiclular traffic were off the road and educational institutions, banks and government offices remained closed. Meanwhile, senior Maoist leaders from Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh assembled and unveiled a statue of their top leader Kishenji, who was killed in West Bengal recently, at Alampeta in Chitrakonda area. PTI