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| India-Pakistan |
| Dreaded Dacoit derails highway construction |
| 2006-01-03 |
| Union Shipping, Road Transport and Highways minister T R Baalu is rushing to Madhya Pradesh to review the security provided to personnel engaged in the construction of the East West Corridor as the state government has virtually thrown up its hands before the dreaded dacoit Rambabu Gadariya. Sources told The Indian Express that Baalu will meet Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and senior bureaucrats in the state capital on January 9 in this regard. A 120-km stretch of the corridor that will connect Jaipur to Kanpur passes through thickly forested Shivpuri district in northern MP, the stronghold of the Gadariya gang that accounts for at least 50 kidnappings and 20 murders in the region. Terrified by the spate of kidnappings and murders, the employees of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and contractors requested the Centre to intervene. Ten foreign nationals, including six from Italy, supervise the work as consultants. What has led to Baalu’s visit is a letter written by Shivpuri collector Dr M Geeta to NHAI chairman Santosh Kumar Nautiyal. She wrote that the district administration has done its bit but the NHAI could arrange for more security. Dr Geeta said five police personnel were deployed at each of the three camps and the contractors had also engaged private armed guards. She said she wrote the letter because despite the measures taken by the local administration, the NHAI personnel and contractors had some sense of anxiety. The NHAI chairman wrote to the chief secretary of MP and that seems to have led to the January 9 meeting. Sources said security will be the main agenda of the meeting, especially as the foreign nationals keep frequenting the stretch that passes through forests. Though normal precautions like escorting the foreign nationals are taken, the track record of Gadaria has made the other staffers worried. Their sense of apprehension was heightened when the gang kidnapped six Railway employees recently. More than 500 police personnel are engaged in the anti-dacoity operations and there is a reward of Rs 14.5 lakh for information leading to the bandit. NHAI’s Shivpuri-based project director Subodh Kumar Malik admitted that the release of the Railway employees a couple of days ago had in a way increased the sense of fear. ‘‘Everyone was sure that no one (else) will be kidnapped till the railwaymen were in his custody,’’ he said. (They were released after 45 days and they did not even meet the police who don’t know if ransom was paid.) The construction began only in August and the Authority hopes to complete it by February 2008. Shivpuri SP R S Meena said the NHAI employees were feeling vulnerable and demanding that Central Industrial Security Force be deployed as was done in Naxal-hit areas. The district administration holds a regular coordination meeting with the police, forest and NHAI authorities to review security but it has proved to be of little help. |
| Posted by:john |
| #2 I'm waiting to see if there's a Dread Dacoit Roberts... |
| Posted by: Phil 2006-01-03 23:40 |
| #1 the dreaded dacoit Rambabu Gadariya. I'm trying to imagine the moustache on this man. 50 kidnappings and 20 murders 80 more muders to go to match the deceased dacoit Verrappan... |
| Posted by: john 2006-01-03 19:39 |