Shutdown in Chhattisgarh to Protest Massacre of Security Personnel

In protest against massacre of 76 CRPF personnel, opposition Congress called a daylong shutdown in Chhattisgarh, reported IANS.

Transport services were closed not only in Raipur but also in Durg, Bilaspur and industrial towns of Korba, Raigarh and Bhilai, report said.

Also, schools were shut and shops downed their shutters across many parts of the state as mark of protest, report said.

Reports coming in from the state’s Maoist stronghold of Bastar region said that life was paralysed by the shutdown in all the five districts of the region – Dantewada, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar and Kanker.

Talking to reporters in Raipur, Chhattisgarh state Congress president Dhanendra Sahu said that BJP the strike was called to protest the flawed policies of the state’s ruling BJP that led to the killing of 76 troopers on Tuesday, said report.

About a dozen industrial bodies, including the Chhattisgarh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, have extended support to the shutdown to express their solidarity with the deceased security personnel.

Apology for blowing up schools

In the meanwhile, Maoists in Bihar apologized to students for destroying their school buildings, reported BBC.

Rebels have blown up over 25 school buildings in the state in last one year, five of which destroyed in the past week.

They reasoned that destroying them was necessary for they were being used as camps by the security forces, said report.

Of late, students in Aurangabad district had appealed to them not to target their schools, for it ‘severely hampers their education’, said report.

Responding to their plea, Maoists distributed hand-written Hindi leaflets in remote areas of the district which said that they regretted creating problems for children, report said.

“But we are forced to target the school buildings as they are being used by the central paramilitary forces to launch operations against us,” the leaflet said as per report.

“The central government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram has sold forests, land and mountains to foreign companies at the cost of depriving local people. Maoists are opposing it and only they are your real saviours,” it said.

However, police said that rebels were destroying school buildings as they are seen as ‘soft targets’ by the rebels, said report.

“They may distribute pamphlets and leaflets expressing their apology to students but there have been no assurances that they will not destroy school buildings again,” senior police officer KS Dwivedi was quoted as saying.

He dismissed the leaflets as ‘a mere gimmick and ploy to divert attention’, said report.

“But we’ll keep chasing and taking action against them,” he was quoted as saying.