Maoist bandh evokes mixed response

RANCHI: The daylong Maoist bandh on Friday had a mixed impact on people. The strike was called to protest against the 'fake encounter' of Maoist leader Ashish who was killed in Gumla on September 10. The police had said that Ashish was killed in an encounter.
Shopkeepers shut shop and roads bore a deserted look in the rural areas where the Maoists have greater influence.Markets were locked throughout the day in places like Ghatsila in East Singhbhum district.
However, security arrangements were in place with CRPF, CoBRA and police personnel conducting short confidence-building operations in rebel pockets.
Police spokesperson M S Bhatia, who monitored the operations during the bandh, said fear affected transportation of minerals from West Singhbhum, East Singhbhum, Lohardaga, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Ramgarh and other places. The scale of financial loss due to transportation shutdown is not known.
Hundreds of commuters travelling between the districts were left in a lurch. At Ranchi's ATI bus stand, dozens of passengers were seen stranded waiting for the buses, but none turned up till afternoon. Buses between Ranchi and Maoist areas of Daltonganj, Garhwa, Gumla, Simdega ply from ATI bus stand.
Bus services between the state capital and Seraikela, Khunti and Chaibasa were also disrupted. Some private vehicles, however, were seen plying on the highways. People travelling between Bihar and Jharkhand had to pass through terror zones along the way on Thursday night.
However, security patrol throughout the night made the journey safer in the vulnerable areas.
Bhatia said the bandh was peaceful and passed off without any untoward incident.
Jharkhand is infamous for fake encounters - some key encounters created controversy and invited human rights commission's attention. Even before the police are able to convince people that a particular encounter was genuine, Maoists issue press notes calling them fake. However, not every encounter meets the same fate from Maoists.
They did not call the Ghaghrabera encounter of February 2016 which killed four Maoists, fake.