Security up in Chhattisgarh’s Maoist-hit Dantewada

RAIPUR - Security was tightened in Chhattisgarh’s Maoist-hit Dantewada district Wednesday after armed rebels set a road construction vehicle on fire, police said.

“Extra police force has been sent to Chhindgarh block to provide security to workers. About 25 Maoists set on fire a major vehicle engaged in road construction work and threatened the workers and the contractor late Tuesday,” an official at the Dantewada police control room told IANS.

Maoists set the vehicle ablaze in an attempt to stop the construction work, the official said, adding that once the road construction was complete it would give local authorities and police access to the forested interiors of the Chhindgarh, where Maoists have been having a complete sway for years.

Dantewada in southern tip of Chhattisgarh is dubbed as one of the worst Maoist militancy-hit districts in the country. The outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) has carried out a series of deadly attacks on police and civilians in the district since 2005, including the massacre of 76 security personnel in an ambush in April this year.