Orissa to build concrete roads in Maoist-hit areas

With Maoists mining roads and blowing up cell towers frequently disrupting communications, the Orissa government has decided to build concrete roads and provide satellite phones to the police in affected areas.

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting to review implementation of welfare and development schemes in Maoist-hit Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada and Gajapati districts, official sources said today.

Though construction of concrete road would be a costly affair, they would be safe unlike kutcha roads where landmines could be planted with ease, the sources said.

"It is essential for the police to keep communication channels alive as it is engaged in a war against Maoists in forests and hilly terrains," a senior police official engaged in the anti-Maoist operations said.

Only roads built under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) were made of concrete.

Maoists had killed 11 Special Operations Group (SOG) personnel in a landmine blast at Baipariguda in Koraput on April 4 and nine personnel of the Orissa Striking Force (OSSF) on the Narayanpatna-Laxmipur road on June 18, 2009.

Of the 151 security personnel killed during 2000-2010, about 50 per cent fell victim to landmines, the sources said.

BSF personnel were being flown by helicopters fearing landmines in Maoist-hit Koraput district.