The Hindu Business Line : NH 23 blocked for second day

ROURKELA: Relaunching their agitation for the release of 30 people arrested on the charge of being Maoists, the locals have blocked vehicular traffic on NH-23 for the second day on Saturday at Silipunji, about 30 km from here.

Trees were felled by villagers of Chandiposh, Mundatola and Silipunji under Bonai sub-division of Orissa's Sundargarh district, including women, to block the highway, police said today. The agitators, led by MLA George Tirkey resorted to the sit-in deman ding that the police release the arrested villagers who they said were innocent.

As a result the road link between the steel city of Rourkela and Bhubaneswar via Talcher was hit and hundreds of vehicles, mostly trucks, were stranded on both sides of the highway, the police said.

The villagers also blocked Rourkela-Barsuan rail line, mostly used for transporting raw materials to Rourkela Steel Plant from the mines, in support of their demand. Police had arrested 30 villagers from the three villages on August 27 on the plea that t hey were linked to Maoists who abuducted Ajit Bardhan, sub-inspector of Koida police station on July 16.

His bullet-ridden body was found the next day in the nearby forest. The villagers had staged a similar road blockade for three days in September and had given one month's time to the administration to unconditionally release the arrested tribals. - PTI

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