IRB jawans end strike,govt breathes easy

Sources said the government had been badly shaken by the near-revolt of the state para-military force and suspected outside provocation. Alarmed,Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee decided to send Chakrabarti to Shilda in West Midnapore to quell the protest.

“Things are normal now. They have withdrawn their hunger strike,” Chakrabarti told The Indian Express from the IRB’s Shilda camp. He said that he would submit a report to the state government on Friday.

“No uniformed force can be allowed such an indisciplined act,” Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh said.

Trouble started last week when 13 jawans of the Shilda camp were sent for security duty in Naxalite-affected Junglemahal. The jawans said the situation there required more forces.

When their request was refused,they took leave without taking permission. The authorities then cancelled their leave and issued show-cause notices against them.

This prompted about 50 Shilda jawans to start a hunger strike. They demanded more leave,transfer from Junglemahal,promotions and more service facilities.

Raising slogans,they demanded that either the chief minister or her representative come and talk to them.

In an unprecedented move,they covered their faces and held press conferences. Senior officers were even stopped from entering the camp.

The unrest spread to other camps and the IRB headquarters at Durgapur and Siliguri,where jawans started another hunger strike. A group of jawans laid siege to the Salboni police station in West Midnapore,causing tension in the area.

Home Secretary D D Gautama said this type of defiance and indiscipline was not acceptable. “We will have to see whether there was any provocation,” he said said at Writers’ Buildings.

The IRB,raised in West Bengal in 2003,has two battalions. Durgapur houses the headquarters of Battalion 6 while Siliguri is the headquarters of Battalion 7,which has a sanctioned strength of 700.