Is it all sound and fury in Lalgarh?

According to a senior government official,the joint operation involving 17 companies of central paramilitary forces and 17 companies of the state police has made little gains even as the state government has already spent around Rs 7 crore in over a month.

The official said Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee too has expressed his concerns.

“Our principal aim was to arrest the 10-12 front-ranking Maoist leaders who are well-entrenched there. For example,Bikash,the Maoist leader who pronounced death sentence on the chief minister is very much there. Even Kishenji often visits the area. But it is a matter of regret that we have not yet been able to arrest any of them. It may either be complacency or something else,which we will have to find out,” a top state government official said.

A meeting has been convened at the Writers’ Buildings on August 6 to make an assessment of the operation and to chalk out future strategy. Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen will preside over the meeting to be attended by top officers of BSF and CRPF,besides the state DGP and West Midnapore SP.

The meeting has been prompted by the pressure from the Centre,which wants the central forces to be released soon,the official said. “They want the forces back but we are insisting on their staying back for some more time.”

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had earlier said in Delhi that the Central forces could not remain in Lalgarh indefinitely.

So far as Chhatradhar Mahato,leader of the People’s Committee against Police Atrocities,was concerned,the official said he was not being arrested for tactical reasons. “He is a link with the Maoists and that is why we have let him be free,” the official said.

West Midnapore SP Manoj Verma,however,refuted the charge that nothing much has been gained since the joint operation was launched. “We have so far arrested 55 people,of whom many are hardcore Maoists,” he said.