Politically motivated attack leaves coffee facility in rubble

A coffee pulping unit in the Visakhapatnam district of India was targeted in a politically motivated attack that saw the establishment and a number of peripheries decimated.

The Hindu, the Indian daily newspaper, report that the offensive was led by twenty or so armed members of the Communist Party of India, the Maoist organisation, accompanied by a further number of fifty members of a local militia.

A day prior, the Visakha rural police hosted community feasts in neighbouring Balapam area which is a stronghold of the ultra-leftist group and the assault on the facility has been viewed as a retaliatory action.

This is not the first time that the Maoist group has struck in the area, which has become a hotbed for activity in recent times.

Local police, while condemning the incident, stated that around two-hundred families from local communities were dependant on the plant directly; with another one-hundred benefiting indirectly from the coffee facility and that these groups were facing a significant hardship in the immediate future. In a press release, the Superintendent said that he believed the Communist group resorted to the violence as they were unable to stomach the positive response that the authorities were getting after the increases in infrastructure.

The rebels left literature at the site, urging people to boycott elections and accused the Congress of being responsible for all violence and drew attention to the forcible arrests of tribal members who were ultimately innocent.

The machinery and buildings were allegedly blasted using mines and after the initial explosion the roof of the unit caved in. Other equipment such as sprayers, furniture and tractors were left ablaze, with coffee berries scattered all over the scene rendering their value almost worthless.

Early estimates have put the cost of the damage at a figure in the region of $48,000.