Red poster ban on liquor

CPI Maoist Poster (File picture)

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Jamshedpur, Sept. 18: The CPI(Maoist) today launched a poster campaign at Nimdih and Patamda in Seraikela-Kharsawan and East Singhbhum, respectively.

The campaign will mark the beginning of Establishment Day to be observed on September 21. Apart from the poster campaign, residents of Patamda, Fadengda, Chaliama and Dahubera have been asked by rebels to shun liquor.

Posters carried a threat for residents living in Patamda and Nimdih of dire consequences if they indulged in any kind of business related to alcohol or consumed it.

Deputy superintendent of police Madan Mohan Lal said the posters were found fixed on the wall of a bus stop at Chaliama and on the wall of a community hall in Fadengda. Other posters were found fixed on branches of trees. The posters were written in Bengali and Hindi.

Lal said the police stumbled upon the posters while carrying out long-range patrolling at Nimdih. They immediately confiscated the posters and intensified patrolling.

Police sources said the poster campaign was probably launched by a squad that owed allegiance to Arup Mochi, an area commander in Dalma.

Notably, illegal brewing of country-made liquor is one of the main businesses that flourish in the jungles of Patamda and Nimdih at the foothills of Dalma.

As trade and consumption of liquor is considered to be a vice by most women, Maoists have chosen to take on liquor brewers to win villagers’ hearts.

Earlier in July, rebels had posted similar threats to brewers by resorting to wide spread poster campaign in the foothills of Dalma.TT