On our way to Ranchi, my wife, two children and I entered the up-market Manokamana Restaurant on the Ranchi-Hazaribagh-Patna Highway around 11 pm.
Manokamana, which is a modern motel-cum-bar near Hazaribagh, was full with customers either on their way to Ranchi and Jamshedpur, or to Patna and Nalanda. While enjoying the dishes one could see rows of trucks, buses and cars plying on the highway before the motel.
The 350-km Ranchi-Hazaribagh-Patna Highway stays busy for nights with vehicles, carrying families and goods, plying non-stop. Like many other parts of Bihar and Jharkhand, this stretch, too, has areas like Koderma, Rajauli, Ramgarh and Barhi where the armed squads of the CPI (Maoist) rule the roost.
Still life never comes to a stand-still on this stretch, which is dotted with dhabas and restaurants serving delectable North Indian fare. These eateries, which remain open 24 hours, do brisk business even late at night, with cars and buses stopping there and the passengers getting the much-needed refreshment. Many of these restaurants stay bathed in fluorescent lights to lure customers. Some like Madhuban and Samrat have aquariums, rabbits, puppies and playthings for the travellers and especially for children to enjoy.
Driving on this stretch last week for almost the whole night with my family, I pondered why vehicles stop plying on the Ranchi-Lohardaga, Ranchi-Gumla, Ranchi-Simdega-Rourkela and Ranchi-Muri-Dhanbad roads after sunset?
I have heard many of my colleagues and friends mention that gun-toting Naxalites prowl on these stretches. Few advices travellers to pass through the stretches, particularly after sunset for the fear of Maoists, who kidnap their 'class enemies' at will.
But why have the Maoists, who are said to have a strong presence in Koderma, Ramgarh and Rajauli valleys, failed to stop the night-long movement of vehicles on the Ranchi-Hazaribagh-Koderma-Patna stretch. I did not even notice any contingent of police forces patrolling on this stretch to guard travellers. Vehicles carrying women, men and children were plying through the intricate Koderma and Rajauli valleys and the people were stopping at their chosen restaurants to eat and be merry.
Unlike to this stretch, there are very few eateries on the Ranchi-Lohardaga, Ranchi-Gumla, Ranchi-Simdega-Rourkela and Ranchi-Muri-Dhanbad roads. And there is hardly any use of opening them on these stretches where angels fear to tread after sunset. I asked my college friend Gupteshwar Pandey (IPS), who was once posted as senior SP in Ranchi as to what could be a possible explanation. Pandey gave a revealing reply.
He said rather philosophically: "You know peoples' power is mightier than the power of Naxalites and even the police. It is not that kidnapping does not happen on this stretch in Hazaribagh, Koderma, Nalanda and Nawada. But people have simply refused to stop their movement owing to that." The officer who is now deputy inspector-general, of Tirhut (Muzzafarpur) in Bihar, explained that if the people decide to travel freely and in hordes on Ranchi-Gumla, Ranchi-Lohardaga and Ranchi-Simdega, these roads, too, will be free from fear.
The deployment of forces won't help alone. Eventually, it is up to the will of the people whether they will travel on Naxalite dominated stretches. If they do, that will end the reign of terror on the feared stretches of Jharkhand.
Yours truly, too, finds an element of validity in Pandey's explanation. Decide to travel in groups on the Ranchi-Simdega stretches. The armed men, who stealthily invade from behind, will stay at bay at the sight of rows of buses and cars, filled with people, the way they do on the Ranchi-Hazaribagh-Patna Highway. Wishing you a joyful trip on "feared" roads.
