Maoists blow up railway track in Sundargarh

ROURKELA: Maoists blew up a railway track near Renjda, about 110 km from Rourkela, in the Bo nai sub-division of Sundargarh district on Monday. Three explosions _ one fizzled out _ marked the 24-hour bandh call given by the Chhota Nagpur Zonal Committee of the banned CPI (Maoist) outfit. Though the shutdown ended on Monday midnight, normalcy in rail and vehicular traffic in border areas of the sub-division would be restored after that.Chakradharpur-based deputy commandant of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) of South Eastern Railway A K Chaurasia said two explosions occurred at between 3 and 3.30 am which blew up the three-foot track of the single track and the last explosion fizzled out. He said the track restoration work would be completed on Tuesday.Sources said the last explosion occurred at about 9.30 am when a track search train was approaching. Railway security and State police personnel visited the affected area. Due to the explosions, commuters at the cut-off areas of Bimlagarh, Barsuan and Tensa were left stranded. The only available Birmitrapur-Barsuan passenger train was cancelled and mineral transportation also remained paralysed.   The Maoists had given the shutdown call to protest continuing police operation at the Saranda forest in which Jharkhand police recently arrested several tribals, whom the outlawed outfit described as innocent villagers. Rourkela police downplayed the incident, claiming Maoists caused the explosions in frustration amid continuing combing operation from Jharkhand Police.  Owing to the shutdown, Jharkhand-bound buses were off the roads even as bus services originating from Rourkela to pockets along the Orissa-Jharkhand border also came to a grinding halt.