Naxals torch construction equipments

Gariaband, Dec 09: Naxals set on fire at least three machines and a tractor engaged in construction work in an insurgency-hit area of Gariaband district, police said on Thursday.
The incident took place around 6 pm on Wednesday in the remote Pipalkhuta village under Amlipadar police station limits where an anicut (structure built across a stream or river to supply water to fields) of the irrigation department was being built by a private contractor, they said.
As per preliminary information, a group of four-five ultras reached the construction site, located over 200 km from the state capital Raipur, and set ablaze a tractor, a JCB machine and two concrete mixer machines parked there, an official said.
After being alerted, police rushed to the spot, located deep inside a forest bordering Odisha, he said.
The construction contractors in the area had been asked to stop their works for sometime in view of the Peoples’ Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA) week observed by ultras from December 2 to 8 every year, during which they step up their activities, the official said.
The rebels often pass through the dense forest of Amlipadar area to enter Kalahandi and Nuapada districts of Odisha from Chhattisgarh.
The area has witnessed such an incident of torching by Naxals after a long time, the official said.

Naxals thrash labourers

Balaghat: Naxals allegedly beat up labourers at a road construction site in Madhya Pradesh’s Balaghat district, police said on Thursday.
At least 30 to 35 ultras reached the Harra Nala camp of a company, which is constructing Bithali-Pathri road in Balaghat, and threatened labourers, forcing them to torch machines like a hot-mix plant, a JCB machine, a roller and a motorcycle, sub-divisional officer of police, Baihar, Aditya Pratap Mishra said. The rebels, before fleeing the spot, also snatched mobile phones of the labourers and then forced them to leave, he said. This is the third such incident of Naxals attacking labourers in the district, an official said.