25 July 2003
MILITANTS DEMAND 10 PER CENT
"TAX" TO ALLOW PM'S ROAD THROUGH BIHAR
From
Jal Khambata
NEW DELHI: Demanding 10 per cent "Rangdari
Tax" from contractors, a militant naxalite group of Bihar has
held up for the past two years the Prime Minister's ambitious "Golden
Quadrilateral" (GQ) National Highway Project envisaging to link
up the four mega cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and
Chennai.
Contractors working on the 120-km stretch of the road
passing through Bihar to link up Delhi and Kolkata are being
threatened with dire consequences unless and except they first pay 10
per cent of the contract value as levy to the militant group.
Those
daring to start construction ignoring the threats have been attacked
and assaulted several times and the portions of roads built by them
have been blown up with bombs with a warning that no contract would
be allowed to be completed unless the group gets the "rangdari
tax', a Hindi jargon used in the area for the extortion money.
The
group resorting to extortion from the contractors has been identified
as "People's Revolutionary CPI(ML) People War Area Committee."
The threatening letters written by it are now in the possession of
the Bihar Police but no action has still been taken to sanitise the
area through which the road is to pass.
The Government is,
however, keeping under wraps the non-completion of just 120 kms of
the road even in two years despite it being part of the project that
envisages a superfast construction.
WORLD BANK MAY WITHDRAW:
Its worry is that the World Bank may pull out from the project so
dear to the Prime Minister's heart if it gets any inkling about this
criminal blockade of the construction. Its demand for the progress
report of the project has, however, put the government in a
quandary.
Already the World Bank has put the Government on
notice that it is concerned about the militant activities in the
North Eastern states and that it would not advance any loans for the
projects that fall in the terrorist-infested states.
The World
Bank may walk out of the Delhi-Mumbai-Kolkota-Chennai- Golden
Quadrilateral project on the same ground unless it is satisfied with
the answer as to why there is not much progress in completion of the
120-km stretch of the road under the project.
"The
Mohiania-Sasram and Sasram bypass sections have achieved physical
progress of below twenty per cent only," says a note put up to
Union Surface Transport Minister Shatrughan Sinha who called for the
progress report to satisfy the World Bank.
Sources in the
Ministry said Shatrughan will be holding a review meeting for the
entire project shortly to find ways and means to speed up
construction in Bihar, the state from which he himself hails.
WILL
LALOO LET FUNDS FOR BIHAR DRY UP?: He may even appeal to Rashtriya
Janata Dal supremo MP Laloo Prasad Yadav for help as the hold-up of
the project would be not only a shame for Bihar but it may also
result in the drying up of funds from the foreign institutions for
other projects in the state, the sources said.
The Union Home
Ministry is also concerned over the non-cooperation of the Biar
Police in providing protection to the contractors engaged for laying
the road.
The note put up to Minister Shatrughan for the
review meeting says: "The Bihar section of the Golden
Quadrilateral GQ project linking four mega cities has been
experiencing major constraints in timely execution of Delhi-Kolkata
segment of the GQ of the national highway development project due to
bad law and order situation in Bihar.
"There have been
several attacks at the construction sites by organised gangs from
time to time over past two years. Also the contractors engaged have
reportedly been receiving frequent extortion calls and letters from
an outlawed outfit regarding payment of ten per cent of the contract
value of the project as levy (rangdari in local jargon) to the said
outfit with threats of dire consequences in the event of
non-fulfillment of the demand."
The matter has been
raised with the Bihar Police at the level of Inspector General of
Police, Patna Zone, but the improvement in situation is yet to be
witnessed, the Ministry sources added.
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