CPI (Maoist) Bharat Bandh passes off peacefully; night bus services to interior areas suspended
An eerie calm prevailed in the border villages of Mulugu and Bhadradri Kothagudem districts abutting the restive inter-State border with Chhattisgarh during the Bharat Bandh called by the CPI (Maoist) party on Tuesday.
The CPI (Maoist) Central Committee gave the bandh call to protest the killing of its top leader and general secretary Nambala Keshava Rao alias Basavaraju in an encounter in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district on May 21.
In view of the geographical proximity of Bhadradri Kothagudem's Charla mandal to Chhattisgarh's volatile areas of south Bastar region, the police intensified vigil along the border to prevent any untoward incidents in the forested region.
Sources said that TGSRTC night bus services to interior areas on Bhadrachalam-Venkatapuram route in Bhadrachalam Agency were suspended on Tuesday as a safety precaution.
Joint teams of the district police and CRPF personnel were deployed at vantage areas, along the inter-State border, as part of the stepped up vigil.
In Mulugu district, the police heightened security in the forest areas in Wazeedu and Venkatapuram mandals, adjoining Chhattisgarh.
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