Odisha tribals who had fled their homes due to Maoist threat, return

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Malkangiri, Nov 22:

After close to three weeks, as many as 40 families from remote Kanaguda village under Kalimela police station limits in Odisha’s Malkangiri district, who had left their houses following Maoists’ threat, today returned to their respective homes.

The residents of the tribal village had deserted the hamlet with their belongings and livestock fearing Maoist onslaught.

The rebels were issuing threats to the villagers in the backdrop of the recent spate of surrenders before the police.

The ultras accused the villagers of being police informers and gave an ultimatum to vacate the village.

On November 1, the members of the outlawed group held a meeting and ordered the villagers to vacate the village within a week. Besides, they threatened that anybody defying the order would be killed.

The Maoists had killed two men from this Malkangiri village – Soma Madkami and Rama Marhi– on October 14 suspecting them to be police informers.

On earlier occasions also villagers had left their homes fearing for their lives owing to Red terror. On September 11 this year, about 53 villagers of Dhakadpadar in the district had left their homes. Besides, more than 100 tribals from 60 families from cut-off area of Chitrakonda had also fled their village in the first week of June this year.

The villagers had knocked on the Malkangri Superintendent of Police for protection. They had taken refuge in a makeshift camp near the residence of Malkangiri SP.