Govt gives in,shifts booths in Lalgarh

This was decided at a meeting at the Circuit House in Midnapore town,attended by Sen,members of the committee led by chief Chhatradhar Mahato,and a team of the Government officials led by Special Secretary (Home) R P Banerjee.

“The Government acceded to our demand that the police will not enter some areas of Lalgarh. We also want to vote,” Mahato said after the meeting. The Government admitted it had to give in to the demands of the committee that police will not be allowed to enter the areas unless the SP apologised for the alleged excesses the police had committed during the raid on four villages on September 7,2008.

The police had conducted raids following a landmine blast targeting the convoy of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee who went to lay the foundation stone of Jindal Steel plant at Salboni on September 5 last year. Union Minister for Steel Ram Vilas Paswan was also in the convoy.

Naxals dare cops with 7 mine blasts in Salboni

JHARGRAM: On a day when the impasse at Lalgarh appeared to have ended,a team of police and CRPF,which had gone to retrieve the bodies of three CPM cadres from a village in Salboni area of West Midnapore on Wednesday,had a narrow escape as suspected Maoists triggered seven landmine blasts.

“The blasts vindicate our stand that the Maoists have got themselves entrenched in the area in and around Lalgarh,” Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen said in Kolkata.

Since Tuesday evening,the bodies of the slain CPM cadres had been lying unattended,as the police could not enter the villages due to the boycott by the People’s Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA). After an assurance from PCPA leader Chhatradhar Mahato,the police team moved towards Nadaria. However,they were forced to return after seven blasts at Kadamdiha village.

A villager said the PCPA forced them to burn the bodies. Denying this,PCPA leader Mahato said: “The villagers got into a fight during a meeting yesterday with CPM members. Four CPM supporters were abducted and three of them were killed. We asked the police to take away the bodies,so how can we force the villagers to burn them?”