The road that is considered to be the lifeline of Bastar economy has also come under the sway of Naxalites as rebels detonated a powerful landmine on National Highway (NH)-16 killing three jawans of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) in Dantewada district on Friday morning.
This is for the first time that Naxalites active in the interior areas of Bastar region had targeted the NH-16 that is considered to be the lifeline of economy in the tribal predominated region. Till now, the road was considered to be totally safe and unaffected from the Naxal insurgency.
The NH 16 has a total length of 460 km connecting Nizamabad in Andhra Pradesh and Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh. It passes through the states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. The minerals, forest produce and daily need items are transported in and out of Bastar from NH 16.
“The rebels targeted one of the vehicles in the convoy of SSB that was moving out of Dantewada on Friday morning by detonating a powerful landmine near Geedam,” Dantewada Superintendent of Police Ankit Garg said. Four jawans were on board the vehicle that was carrying small generators and other daily need items.
The jawans were returning to their home state of Assam when the vehicle hit the landmine, about 360 km south of state capital. While two jawans including the driver died on the spot, another succumbed to his injuries on way to the hospital. The condition of injured jawan was also reported to be critical.
The blast in the otherwise safe NH-16 created panic in the entire region. The traffic movement on the road was affected. But the security personnel restored it soon. Still the reign of terror prevails on the vehicle drivers moving on the route. The road was constructed by the Border Road Organisation (BRO) and the Naxal breach on it had come as a big shock for the authorities. “Now which road can be considered safe where the Naxalites cannot plant landmine,” said a senior public works department official in Dantewada.