73 years after Independence, bus link to Naxal stronghold

Seventy-three years after the Independence, people of Jodamba gram panchayat, now called Swabhiman Anchal, in Odisha’s Maoist-hit Malkangiri district have finally witnessed bus services reaching them. Thanks to the Border Security Force (BSF) and state police who made concerted efforts and sacrifices to flush out the rebels from the area and undertaken development activities in the area to win the trust of the people to restore normalcy in the region.

Jodambam, located at a distance of around 90 km from district headquarters Malkangiri and 750 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, was the fiercest battle ground between the rebels and security personnel until 2018. This is the area which witnessed origin of the Maoist activities in early 1990s.

Renamed as Swabhiman Anchal by Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik after a construction of bridge in 2018 over Gurupriya river connecting the areas cut off by the Balimela reservoir, Jodamba area has 150 villages. Situated along the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border, the region had long been a stronghold of Left-Wing Extremists.

“The Odisha State Road Transport Corporation began the bus service on Friday to cover the area between Malkangiri and Jodambo — an area where only two-wheelers could go 10 years ago when the BSF was deployed there as a first security force to curb the Maoist menace. The government bus service began following private services after the construction of the Gurupriya bridge in 2018, which connected Swabhiman Anchal with the rest of the state,” an official of the state government said.

Till now, motor launches and boats were used to cover the arduous 5-6 hour journey from the district headquarters as the only mode of transportation to reach ferry points. From there, people took country boats to reach their villages. Even horses were used to travel in the remote parts of Swabhiman Anchal.