KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, Feb 17: CPI-Maoist rebels blew up the Kadamdiha panchayat building at Kadamdiha under the Naxal-infested Goelkera thana area in West Singhbhum district, about 160 km away from Jamshedpur on Friday.
The explosion took place at a time when the police and paramilitary forces are trying to flush out the Naxals from Kolhan and Porahat forest divisions where the latter are hiding for the past over one month.
According to police, at about 1 am today there was a massive explosion at the Kadamdiha village, leading the villagers to come out of their homes only to see the panchayat building standing destroyed.
On a wall of the torn down building was written that from February 12 till February 24, “Birodh Diwash” is being observed and the explosion was a part of registering the outfit’s protest.
The police, however, maintain that the act of blowing up a constitutional facility like the panchayat building is the result of the frustration of the Naxals.
Hours after the explosion at Kadamdiha, which also falls in the jurisdiction of Kolhan forest division West Singhbhum superintendent of police, Ashutosh Shekhar held a high-level meeting of police and paramilitary forces in Chaibasa. The meeting which is still in progress is crucial and likely aimed at intensifying the ongoing anti-insurgency operations at the Kolhan and Porahat forest divisions.
Notably, the Naxals, including some top leaders have sneaked into the twin forest divisions since January’s first week for making them their home as the Naxals had to flee from Saranda forest due to the increasing number of CRPF camps set up there.
