Normal life was hit on Saturday in Odisha’s Maoist-infested Malkangiri district because of a bandh by extremists operating in the area.
The bandh call was given to protest against the killing of 13 of their cadres in a recent police encounter in the same backward tribal-dominated district.
People, particularly those who were to travel to different areas from the district headquarters town of Malkangiri had a tough time as the passenger buses were off the road. The strike, however, was by and large violence-free. On the eve of the bandh, Poonam Chand, a prominent member of the Malkangiri divisional committee of the CPI(Maoists), had issued an audio tape to the local media appealing to the people to cooperate with them during the bandh. In the tape, she had also warned that the Maoist organisation will take revenge on the police for the encounter .
The local police and security forces deployed in the district for anti-Maoist drive, intensified combing operations in view of the bandh call.
