Police-resident clash building up in West Bengal (Lead)
April 4th, 2009 - 9:55 pm ICT by IANS
Kolkata, April 4 (IANS) The West Bengal government will soon announce its plan of action for tribal-dominated Lalgarh region of West Midnapore district, where a group of residents put up two check posts to prevent the police and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) workers from entering the area, a senior official said Saturday.
“We’ll announce our comprehensive plan of police action in West Midnapore’s Lalgarh but for that we need some more time. We are hopeful of announcing everything within a week,” state Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen told reporters here.
“We’ve got intelligence inputs that Maoists guerrillas are still actively operating in the region,” he added.
Sen had said last month the police would carry out a combing operation to sniff out Maoist rebels from the Lalgarh region before the Lok Sabha polls.
The check posts were put up by the members of the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) at Raigarh and Barotelia area of Lalgarh.
“We’ve heard about this development… that two check posts were put up in two different places near Lalgarh to prevent the police force from entering the region,” West Midnapore Superintendent of Police R.K. Singh told IANS, adding that action would be taken against the PCAPA members.
PCAPA leader Chattrodhar Mahato said they were keeping a regular watch on these two check points to prevent the police or any “hooligans” from the state’s ruling CPI-M from entering their villages and planned to set up two more check posts for the purpose.
Trouble erupted in Lalgarh last November after the police arrested some school students and allegedly harassed tribal women after a landmine blast on the route of the convoy of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and central ministers Ram Vilas Paswan and Jitin Prasada near Bhadutala area.
Later, the tribals, allegedly backed by the Maoists, dug up roads and placed big tree trunks across them, virtually cutting off the trouble-prone zone from the rest of the district.
They also demanded a public apology from the police for the alleged excesses committed against them.
- West Bengal residents keep out police, CPI-M - Apr 04, 2009
- Lalgarh's tribal agitators threaten to resist police action - Apr 05, 2009
- 'Police operation in West Bengal's Lalgarh a must before polls' - Apr 06, 2009
- Police for action in Lalgarh, poll panel suggests dialogue (Lead) - Apr 06, 2009
- Pro-Maoist shutdown hits life of three Bengal districts - Jan 11, 2011
- Pro-Maoist leader makes things tough for CPI-M - May 06, 2011
- Pro-Maoist tribal body's spokesman re-arrested - Jul 01, 2011
- Opposition shutdowns hit life in parts of Bengal - Jan 10, 2011
- Pro-Maoist group calls 24-hour shutdown Monday - Dec 18, 2010
- CPI-M leaders' houses torched in Bengal's West Midnapore - Jun 16, 2011
- Trinamool claims two workers hurt by CPI-M men - Oct 13, 2010
- CPI-M 'reclaims' Lalgarh after one-and-a-half years - Oct 10, 2010
- Maoists kill two women in Bengal - Mar 26, 2011
- Two activists of pro-Maoist group killed in Bengal - Oct 23, 2010
- Pro-Maoist group's spokesman in our custody, admits police - Sep 04, 2010
Tags: bhattacharjee, check posts, communist party of india, communist party of india marxist, home secretary, landmine blast, Lok Sabha, maoist, maoist rebels, maoists, midnapore district, police action, prasada, raigarh, ram vilas paswan, s committee, tree trunks, tribal women, two different places, west bengal government
