Man who builds roads in the shadow of Maoists
DORNAPAL(SUKMA): He is perhaps a contractor like no other in the country. On his shoulder rests the Chhattisgarh government’s ambitious plans of bringing development to the Maoist heartland by building roads -- a project that is bitterly opposed by the insurgents and has caused bloodshed.
It is the army of workers of Pramod Rathore, the 46-yearold private contractor, who is building both the InjiramBheji and Dornapal-Jagargonda roads across south Sukma, which once completed is expected to usher in modern amenities to the doorstep of tribals and choke the Maoists of local support. But building the roads is fraught with danger and Rathore moves with gun-toting bodyguards. The Maoists are hell-bent on not letting the roads being built and the two stretches have been the site of some 45 fierce encounters resulting in 45 deaths so far.
The incomplete Dornapal-Jagardonda road is where the Maoists struck last month, ambushing a CRPF patrol team and killing 25 soldiers.
They had struck at the Injiram-Bheji road in March, killing 12 security personnel.
But Rathore is undeterred and has chosen to venture where others fear to tread. First the PWD of the Chhattisgarh government gave out tenders for the two roads but one by one, all the private contractors deserted the project.
Then the state Police Housing Corporation stepped in and issued fresh tenders, but once again the other contractors left, leaving Rathore with the onerous responsibility.
It has come at a cost and Rathore is a marked man, forced to move around stealthily, encircled by bodyguards. “No one knows about my movements,” the contractor, 5 feet 10 inches tall and sporting a heavy gold chain round his neck, said. He also always carries a rifle and a pistol. “The rifle is to fight till the last breath and the pistol to shoot myself in case I am caught by Maoists,” he explained.
Having migrated from RaeBareli in the early 1980s, Rathore has come a long way. The work he does is dangerous and painstakingly slow.
His workers lay the road often only to be ripped apart by IED planted by the Maoists.