Andhra Pradesh

Maoists impose ‘ban’ on mobiles

— Photo: G.N. Rao

Cut-off: A tribal woman from Charla communicating on a mobile phone.

BHADRACHALAM: Maoists have said no to the use of mobile phones which had so far facilitated the voice of isolated tribal communities to be heard outside their forest villages. Mobile users in the tribal habitations in Bhadrachalam division and in villages bordering Bastar have been issued serious threats.

At some places, people were relieved of cell phones. The exercise is aimed at keeping them away from the influence of the police. Mobile phones are viewed as a threat to Maoist operations in their heartland. It is more so ever since the Greyhounds police killed 17 Maoists at Kanchala near Pamedu -- the core area of their operations in Bastar on March 18 last.

Half a dozen persons were kidnapped by Maoists from the villages in the vicinity of Charla last week on the suspicion of being police informants.

Some of them had been using mobile phones. The Maoists thrashed them and sounded a warning against the use of not only mobile phones but even motorcycles that gave them access to forest villages.

The BSNL could extend its coverage to a good number of tribal villages in the pocket. So is the case with Reliance Infocomm whose network covers villages inside Pamedu forests. Two more operators are all set to extend their services to this pocket very soon.

The Maoists’ call against the use of mobile phones has affected the sale of SIM cards and recharge cards, said a distributor of a private company.

The company had 4,000 connections in Charla area. Some 1,000 SIM cards were sold in the last three months. People from the tribal habitations stopped buying mobile phones in view of the Maoist threat. In Malkangiri area in Orissa and Konta area in Chhattisgarh, Maoists put up posters against the use of mobile phones.

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