KHAMMAM: The pandemic dealt a blow to Maoist activities from March to December 2020, as lockdown had cut out all supplies, said a former member of the outfit, who did not want to be named.
There were no shandies in villages and, to top it all, there was a tight vigil on the movement of people and transportation of goods to tribal areas from plains.
“During this period, while a few Maoists, unable to ride out the tough time, surrendered, some died of starvation,” he said.
There were also instances of Maoists robbing tribals of their essentials, which were given by the government and NGOs to help them tide over the crisis, he said.
But after lockdown was lifted, situation has changed. The shandies are back in all villages — Kistram, Dharmapet and Gollapalli — which are near the Telangana border. This has made it easy for Maoists to stock up essentials, which is what is worrying the police.
“We are keeping a close eye on the villages where the shandies are organised and are on the lookout for Maoists’ movements. We have details of those who are taking supplies to shandies and are also updating the lists of customers at the shandies. We hope to smoke out Maoists as they cannot live without supplies for long,” Cherla police Circle Inspector B Ashok said.