Police in Palamu, after an effort of 33 long years, have finally set up police pickets at Dagra, supposed to be one the few remaining citadels of CPI Maoists in Jharkhand.
Cops of IRB and district armed police will now man the pickets under Naudeeha Bazaar police station, the notoriety of which in all these 33 years was famous. Police pickets at Dagra will further break the vestige of extremists, said sources. Dagra is close to Bihar's Kothi, another so called summer-winter capital of extremists in Bihar.
Sources said it was DGP D K Pandey, who, when apprised of the strategic importance of picket here at Dagra, gave SP Palamu Indrajeet Mahatha a go ahead to set up pickets in this area.
The Dagra picket is now a fresh thorn in the neck of Maoists like Sandip, Rakesh, Arvind Bhuiyan and Vimal, said Mahatha. "At Dagra there was a new kind of feudalism of the Maoists. These feudal lords used to run their writ. The villagers here used to breathe extremism and the Maoists had their control over their lives."
He also said at Dagra some persons had grabbed forest land with tacit support of the Maoists and there was none to resist this for fear of Maoists. For the Maoists, Dagra was their stopover as here they got food and shelter.
However, the SP said with this picket now things will be too difficult for the Maoists. He agreed following the infestation of extremists here, the dispensation of criminal justice was a distant proposition. He said there never came any complaints from public with regard to crime just because of the dominance of the Maoists which now stands shattered.
The Maoists had kept the 14,000 to 15,000 population here at bay. Dagra is an oasis of all that is remote, cut off and isolated. Two small bridges here in the name of rural connectivity stand broken. SP has a plan to start 'Grahak Sewa Kendra' along with a medical camp.
About socio economic scenario here at Dagra, Mahatha said, "Deprivation runs high. Muslims are neutral here while others like Kharwars and Bhuiyans feel emboldened with Maoists as this outfit has one Arvind Bhuiyan from their community."
On rule of land here in the past, SP said, "There was none. Extremism was in the air here. There was a total subjugation of local populace with extremism. People here had resigned to the lot of extremism."
Maoists are losing miles and miles now when some ten years back they were just occupying inches and inches in Palamu. Maoists are now homeless as their cozy corner Dagra is under the close scanner of security forces.