By IANS,
Malkangiri : Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Sunday visited the state’s Malkangiri district where at least 17 policemen were killed after the vehicle carrying them was blown up by Maoist rebels July 16.
Patnaik offered floral tributes to the photographs of the policemen and met the family members of the victims at Malkangiri town, some 700 kms from state capital Bhubaneswar, a senior district police official told IANS. The chief minister also handed over to them compensation amounts.
Patnaik also announced that the government will provide the family members government land and one person from each family of the killed policemen government jobs, the official said.
Maoists had triggered a landmine blast near ‘MV126’ village July 16 when an anti- landmine vehicle was returning from a neighbouring village where rebels previous night looted a contractor’s house.
Prior to his visit, Patnaik had Saturday ordered state director general of police Gopal Chandra Nanda to probe the incident and asked him to submit a report in a month.
Fifteen out of thirty revenue districts of the state have been affected by Naxalite violence to some degree, the state government says. More than 100 people, including policemen and rebels, have been killed in the state since 2005.