Gadchiroli: Maoists torch road-building equipment

Mumbai: Naxals torched a water tanker and two other road construction machines at a site of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana in Etapalli in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district, police said Monday.

The incident, at a road-construction site between Emli and Mangutha, took place Sunday night, a Burgi police station official said, adding that a group of around 40 uniformed-Maoists were involved.

“They set ablaze a water tanker, cement concrete mixer and a road roller. Other material at the site was also torched. Panchnama is underway and a police team is at the site for further probe and action,” the police said. Last week too, Naxals had burnt down road-construction equipment in Kasansur in Etapalli teshil, the official added.

The constant attack on such developmental works inconveniences villagers, and Sunday’s arson incident will force them to endure hardships in commuting during monsoon, an official said.

On May 1, a reinforcement party of the Quick Response Team (QRT) of the Kurkheda police travelling to Purada (the police station under whose jurisdiction the arson incident was reported) was attacked in a landmine blast.

Barely, 10 ten hours after 27 vehicles were allegedly torched by Maoists near Dadapur village in north Gadchiroli.

All the 15 men and the driver of the private vehicle engaged by the police were killed in the blast, carried out by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED).

While the police said the standard operating procedure (SOP) in sensitive zones keep changing and is tweaked as per requirement, the reason as to why the QRT party didn’t take a road opening party (ROP) will be inquired into. Some lapses like not using an armoured vehicle and not pressing two private vehicles while ferrying personnel were also noticed.

Violation of SOPs led to Naxal attack: State police

The Maharashtra police’s internal probe into the May 1 Naxal attack in Gadchiroli — in which 15 Quick Response Team (QRT) personnel died, has found violations of several standard procedures.

Had the standard operating procedures been observed by the junior police officers, the deaths could have been averted, sources said.

Police sources said that there was no lapse from the Gadchiroli police because the SP’s permission had not been taken prior to the dispatch of police personnel.

A sub-divisional police officer who allegedly ordered the 15 QRT men to reach Purada, so that a counter-action against the Maoists could be taken later, has been sent on leave and is awaiting administrative action, said sources.

According to sources, the May 1 blasts bore similarity to past blasts in Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.

The blast was staged in Dadapur village, under the jurisdiction of the Purada police station, where, around 10 hours before the blast, dozens of Maoists set ablaze 27 vehicles and machines belonging to a construction contractor.

The blast killed the QRT men and the driver of the private vehicle they were travelling in.