Gaya administration gears up to tackle Maoist menace

GAYA: Though on apparent decline, the

Maoist menace

continues to bother

Gaya

officials in the run up to the Lok Sabha election.

The district administration has started formulating an effective strategy to hold the elections peacefully. According to sources, ‘vulnerability mapping’ of the areas having Maoist presence has already been done. The force deployment plan would take into consideration inputs gathered during vulnerability mapping, they added.

Gaya DM Abhishekh Singh said all out efforts have been made to get the people of the remote areas involved in the voting process. The response of the people has been very encouraging,” he claimed.

“The successful implementation of ‘Aapki sarkar aapke dwar’ programme and mega camps organised in southern parts of the district have delivered encouraging results. People’s awareness on democratic institutions and their functioning has gone up,” the DM said.

About 29 lakh voters will exercise their franchise at 3,108 polling stations spread over the 10 assembly segments of the district. Six of the ten assembly segments form part of the Gaya parliamentary constituency. Three assembly segments, including Tekari and Imamganj, are part of Aurangabad parliamentary constituency. Atari assembly segment falls in the Jehanabad parliamentary constituency.

Gaya is infamous for Maoist violence during election. Two former MPs of Gaya were killed during electioneering in the past. While Ishwar Chaudhary, the sitting BJP MP, was killed in May 1991 during election campaign, Rajesh Kumar, who succeeded Ishwar Chaudhary, was gunned down during 2005 assembly election. Kumar was contesting the assembly election as an LJP candidate.

In 2005 assembly election, the then DM and SP narrowly escaped IED blast engineered by the Maoists. On several occasions, the Maoists have attacked polling stations. In the last several elections, polling time was reduced in Maoist-hit areas to facilitate daylight return of the polling personnel.

The DM said with construction of rural roads and electrification, the administration was in a much better position to hold peaceful election. “Maoist threat substantially declined in 2014 Lok Sabha and 2015 assembly elections. However, there is still no room for complacency and nothing should be left to chance,” the DM added.