The meeting was attended by chief secretary Ashok Mohan Chakrabarti and senior officers of West Bengal Police, including DGP Sujit Kumar Sarkar, DG (Co-ordination) Bhupinder Singh, IG (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia.

During the meeting, the chief minister expressed his concern over the recent developments in Nandigram that has witnessed maximum violence since polling took place on May 7 between CPM and Trinamool Congress supporters.

“We appeal all to maintain peace and tranquility. The district magistrate and police superintendent of East Midnapore are holding an all-party meeting in Tamluk to find a solution to the Nandigram stalemate. If the problem is not solved and violence continues, we are thinking of deploying central forces to control the situation,” said Chakrabarti.

He said the government will leave no stone unturned to bring the situation under control. The DGP also said “there is no other alternative but to bring in central forces and deploy them in Nandigram and adjoining areas.”

According to sources, police camps will be set up again in Nandigram. The camps were lifted up just ahead of the elections, citing lack of manpower.

“We also discussed post-poll violence in Howrah, Domkol in Murshidabad and Banarhat in north Bengal. The last phase of elections is just round the corner. The chief minister directed us to see that elections are held peacefully, ” the chief secretary added.

Stop intervening
: DM to parties
Nandigram: During an all-party meeting called by East Midnapore district administration on Sunday to bring peace in Nandigram, which has witnessed large-scale post-poll violence, District Magistrate Choten Lama urged political parties to stop intervening in administration’s work. Lama said normalcy can be restored if parties stop intervening and added that though leaders commit of cooperating, their party workers oppose police. SP of the district P K Ghosh was more categorical. He said leaders should should desist from making request to police about releasing their party workers after they are arrested. Ghosh said police had recovered firearms from Nandigram when they had conducted raids just ahead of the elections. But after this, the villagers belonging to various political parties obstructed police from conducting raids. “So firearms are available now,” Ghosh said. Kanchan Chakraborty