Maoist threats halt road projects in rural Bihar

Dec 13, 2007, 8:53 GMT

Patna, Dec 13 (IANS) The fear of Maoist guerrillas has put a stop to road construction work in many of Bihar's rural areas. Contractors in several projects have left fearing for their lives, officials said Thursday.

Work on over a dozen road construction projects in Gaya district for instance, including those in the area of state Speaker Uday Narayan Choudhary, has stopped for nearly a month now.

'The fear of Maoists has forced contractors to stop work in rural areas of Gaya district after the guerrillas threatened them,' Qamar Jawed, a government engineer in Gaya, told IANS over the phone.

Giving details, he said the stalled projects include eight in the Dumaria-Imamganj area that comes in speaker Choudhary's area and is considered a Maoist stronghold.

The state intelligence agency informed top officials about this development early this month.

Amongst the other road works halted by the Maoists are the Bankebazaar-Mahapur road in Amas block, the Vishnupur-Azamgarh stretch, from Hesra to Rampur and from Newbazaar to Hulashganj.

Last month, Maoist guerrillas demanded Rs.220 million from the Hyderabad-based company Engineering and Construction Inc. (ECI), which is constructing roads in Rohtas district.

Officials of other companies engaged in road construction across the state have also complained of receiving extortion threats.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service