By IANS
Patna : Suspected Maoists injured over half a dozen workers engaged in a mega railway project in Bihar’s Gaya district.
Armed men attacked workers of a private construction company Tuesday, engaged in the construction of a bridge, as part of the Rs.30.3 billion Tailiya-Rajgir rail project.
The injured workers were taken to the Patna Medical College for treatment.
According to police between 300 to 400 Maoist attacked the office of the Patna based Ravindran construction company engaged in laying new rail lines between Rajgir in Bihar and Tilaiya in Jharkhand, beat up the workers with batons before damaging eight tractors and an earth mover.
Police suspect that the attack was result of failure of the construction company to pay money demanded by the Maoists.
After the attack, police provided security at the construction site and assured all help to officials engaged in the railway project.
In large parts of rural Bihar many infrastructure projects have stopped due to the Maoist problem.
“Contractors in several projects have left fearing for their lives,” officials said.
Work on over a dozen road construction projects in Gaya district, for instance, including those in the area of assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Choudhary, has stopped for nearly a month now.
“The fear of Maoists has forced contractors to stop work in rural areas of Gaya district after Maoists threatened them,” a government engineer in Gaya said.
Last month, Maoists demanded Rs.220 million from the Hyderabad-based company Engineering and Construction Inc. (ECI), which is building roads in Rohtas district.
Officials of other companies engaged in road construction across the state have also complained of receiving extortion threats.