The National Highways in Palamu are fraught with dangers. The dangers are two- fold - one of extremism and the other is of robbery.
Palamu has two National Highways. One is NH 75 which connects Palamu to UP. The other is NH 98. It connects Palamu to Bihar. Both are extremely vulnerable.The extremists and the criminals strike on these highways as and when they want.
There are many police stations located on the highways here like Harihurganj (NH 98), Chhaterpur (NH 98), Padwa (NH 75), Daltonganj (NH 75), Satbarwa (NH 75), Manika (NH 75), Patki security base (NH 75), latehar (NH 75), Chandwa (NH 75) and Kudu (NH 75). Nevertheless the extremists and the criminals have their writ run over these two NHs.
Sources said on an average one police station has not more than 20 km of NH under its jurisdiction. Nevertheless, its safety and security remains thrown to the winds. The Satbarwa police station located on NH 75 has just 16 km of NH under it but this too is unsafe. Patki security base is atop a small hill and it covers less than 15 km of NH 75.
The Maoists strike right on NHs 75 and 98. The robbers too. And when there is any big festivity like Durga Puja fear of robbery on the NHs gets high. It is for easy money and cell phones. The Maoists strike on the highways just to get immediate publicity nation-wide.Striking NHs and railways by the Maoists is more for publicity than for damage quotient, said a source close to the Maoists.
last Wednesday six pilgrims were looted on NH 98. The pilgrims were from Chhatisgarh’s Balrampur and were on way to Gaya in Bihar for performing pind daan there.Three highway robbers looted them at four in the morning. The robbers took away their vehicle and sped away with cash of Rs 15,000. The pilgrims had hired the vehicle for Gaya and it was being driven by its owner himself. The owner has lodged a case with the Palamu police.
Notably, this NH robbery took place on Wednesday morning when during the same day State DGP Rajeev Kumar had reviewed the extremist and crime cases through video-conferencing.The SDPO Chhaterpur S Tirkey has confirmed this highway robbery.
The robbers were all in their early twenties and had their faces covered giving strong indication that the robbers were locals. One had a pistol. The pilgrims were not the only ones to be looted. One other truck driver also fell prey to the robbery.