Daltonganj: Hours after the first phase of panchayat polls were held on Saturday, the Burha Pahar squad of CPI (Maoists) set fire to eight vehicles and a generator set at the base camp of a road construction site owned by contractor Dilip Pandey at Baaskarcha village under Mahuadnr police station in Latehar district late Saturday night.
Pandey said, “Around 30 to 35 Maoists torched one trailer, two JCB machines, four water tankers, one 407-type vehicle (mini bus), besides a generator set parked at the base camp of the construction site at 10.15pm. The violence lasted for about 45 min.” He suffered a loss of Rs 1.50 crore in the incident, he claimed.
Expressing surprised as he was never asked by the Maoists for “levy”, he, however, agreed that police had alerted his base camp staff about a week ago to shift the machines to a secure place.
Local Congress MLA Ramchander Singh said Pandey had won the tender for the construction of 29.3km ‘pucca’ road, worth around Rs 82 crore. “I got the approval from the state government for the multi-crore road,” he boasted. The road connects Kuro and Baaskarcha villages.
Mahuadnr SDPO Rajesh Kujur said, “The Maoists were well armed and came on foot. They have left behind leaflets, asking people to boycott the ongoing panchayat elections.” Meanwhile, police security post is located one-and-a-half kilometre away from the site of arson. However, sources said the incident was not a warning to people against participating in the panchayat elections but for “levy” to be extracted from the contractor.
Pandey said, “Around 30 to 35 Maoists torched one trailer, two JCB machines, four water tankers, one 407-type vehicle (mini bus), besides a generator set parked at the base camp of the construction site at 10.15pm. The violence lasted for about 45 min.” He suffered a loss of Rs 1.50 crore in the incident, he claimed.
Expressing surprised as he was never asked by the Maoists for “levy”, he, however, agreed that police had alerted his base camp staff about a week ago to shift the machines to a secure place.
Local Congress MLA Ramchander Singh said Pandey had won the tender for the construction of 29.3km ‘pucca’ road, worth around Rs 82 crore. “I got the approval from the state government for the multi-crore road,” he boasted. The road connects Kuro and Baaskarcha villages.
Mahuadnr SDPO Rajesh Kujur said, “The Maoists were well armed and came on foot. They have left behind leaflets, asking people to boycott the ongoing panchayat elections.” Meanwhile, police security post is located one-and-a-half kilometre away from the site of arson. However, sources said the incident was not a warning to people against participating in the panchayat elections but for “levy” to be extracted from the contractor.