Raipur, Oct 3 (IANS) A daylong nationwide strike called by Maoists hit life in Chhattisgarh’s trouble-torn Bastar region Saturday as buses stopped plying and guerrillas blocked key roads even as thousands of security personnel were deployed in the area and in the state capital here.
Dozens of people were stranded at bus stands as no vehicles were ready to move into the interiors of the 40,000 sq km Bastar region that covers five districts of Dantewada, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Kanker and Bastar. Maoists had placed heavy logs at several places to block roads.

“Light vehicles are moving in Bastar but buses are not plying in the interiors. No untoward incident has been reported from any part of Bastar and we are fully geared to meet any situation,” Inspector General of Police (Bastar Range) T.J. Longkumer told IANS on phone.

Bus operators kept their vehicles off the roads on National Highways 221 and 16 in Dantewada and Bijapur districts, fearing attacks by the guerrillas, though several teams of the police and paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were deployed on the highways.

Jagdalpur, the main town in the region, is about 300 km from state capital Raipur.

Officials at the police headquarters here said that the Maoist shutdown had not affected the urban areas but has “definitely had effects in the forested stretches of Bastar where sufficient number of police and CRPF men were relocated in vulnerable areas to handle Maoists”.

In Raipur, all the VIP locations and key government buildings like the state secretariat, police headquarters and the residences of ministers have been put under a security blanket following intelligence inputs that rebels had planned to carry out strikes here.

Anti-Terrorism Squads (ATS) have also been put on alert in Raipur, where police conducted overnight checks at hotels, bus stands and railway stations.