Bandh in Maoist-hit districts peaceful

RANCHI: Traffic came to a halt and markets remained closed in Maoist-hit districts across the state as the left wing extremists had called a state wide day-long bandh on Friday. The bandh, however, passed off peacefully in the presence of security personnel. The bandh was called by CPI(Maoist) rebels to protest the recent killing of their cadres in neighboring Odisha. At least 14 armed Maoists were gunned down in Odisha’s Malkangiri district during an encounter between security personnel and extremists on September 14.
The bandh was called by an area commander of the Maoists Siddho Koda in Khunti through a press release. The bandh was called in five states including Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Chhatisgarh. DGP Rajiv Kumar said that he had issued instructions to all the SPs of the concerned districts to maintain alert. “No incidence of violence has been reported from any of these districts. Deployment of security was made in all sensitive areas,” said Bhatia.
The band was mostly effective in Khunti and Gumla districts. Buses did not ply in Khunti whereas shops remained closed in Torpa, Khunti, Murhu, Karra, Raniya and other areas. “All remained peaceful during the bandh. The movement of the Maoists was also not reported during the bandh,” said Khunti.