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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