Unprecedented security cover has been put in place in the town ahead of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's two-day visit to Maoist-hit West Midnapore district on Saturday with an eye on salvaging the sagging morale of the administration and the police.

At least five companies of armed police and Central para-military forces have been deployed in the restive town, where 11 persons were detained for interrogation yesterday.

Security personnel are staging flagmarches and patrolling the main streets with gun-toting policemen and those carrying mine-detectors taking position in and around the town.

The district administration has requisitioned forces from adjacent Bankura, Purulia and Hooghly districts to maintain law and order in Midnapore town during Buddhadeb's stay.

Bhattacharjee had previously visited the district on November 2 last year when landmine blasts were triggered by suspected Maoists targetting his convoy on its way back to Kolkata from Salboni after attending a private steel company's programme.

Officials said apart from reviewing the law and order situation, the chief minister is likely to give his nod to a Rs 1,600-crore development project in the three districts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia.

The district administration has turned down a proposal by the police to impose section 144 CrPC in the town on the ground that the measure might be counter-productive, sources said.

The chief minister will hold a marathon seven-hour meeting at the circuit house with district officials, magistrates and police superintendents of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia -- the three districts worst-hit by Maoist onslaughts.

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