Express News Service 25 Sep 2008 11:54:00 AM ISTSAMBALPUR: Lack of development in interior pockets is helping the Naxals to regroup in the district. Capitalising on the backwardness of the people, Naxals are spreading their ideology and able to convince the people that it’s them not the Government who are concerned about their betterment.
The alienation of the people could be gauged from the revelation made by an arrested Naxal. Sayun (20), arrested in the wee hours of Monday, revealed that even womenfolk in their village Lankeswari are inclined towards the Naxal ideology.
A visit to Maoist-prone villages Sarada under Jamankira police station, Gariakhaman under Kisinda police station, Sitlenpalli under Dhama police station exposes how villagers are being alienated as development continues to be non-existent. None of the villages has electricity, road, drinking water and the list is endless. In village Sarada only three villagers possess BPL cards and a pond renovation awaits government nod for past couple of years. Similarly, in village Gariakhaman people are forced to drink water from a nullah running in the village. One can see wild pachyderms unleashing a reign of terror in the suburbs of Sitlenpalli.
Even the story of village Lankeswari is no different with a solitary tubewell and no school. Health services are poor and there is no road worth the name in the village leave aside electricity.
Recalling about the first meeting the Naxals held in the village in 2006, Sayun said they highlighted the miseries of the people and how they were being forced to pay tax for forest land which they had made cultivable for themselves.
With the State Government offering no additional incentives for execution of development works in Maoist-prone areas, no contractor is coming forward to take up the projects.
