Around 50 vehicles engaged in excavation and transportation of iron ore from the Surjagad hills in Etapalli taluka of Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra were burnt down on Friday morning.
Police confirmed that these vehicles were carrying materials from iron mines when the incident took place.
Also drivers of the trucks beaten up by Naxals, police said.
When the work was going on near the hills, dozens of rebels reached the site at around 11am and burnt down around 50 vehicles, including trucks, tractors, Pokland and JCB machines, they said.
The rebels confined the drivers of these vehicles, thrashed them and set them free after three hours, police said.
Mumbai based Lloyd Metals Company has been allotted the lease of Surjagad hills by the government and it has been excavating iron ore from the site for the last one-and-a-half month. In 2013, the Maoists had killed three persons, including a senior executive of Lloyd Metals, in the same area.
It should be noted that local people have been opposing the excavation and transportation of iron ore from the Surjagad hills.
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