Lalgarh children want schools back from forces

On Monday,around 600 school students held a rally at Dharampur in Lalgarh demanding that the 300 security personnel camping at the local high school be shifted elsewhere. The rally was taken out at noon and the students handed over a deputation to the person in-charge of the camps. Police camps were also set up in various schools in Binpur and Goaltore blocks in West Midnapore.

At Sarenga in Bankura district,nearly 100 villagers met the local BDO and handed over a deputation that the the police camps be shifted from the schools at Bara-Gharra,Gargaria and Majurai villages. The camps were set up in one school in each of these villages in the first week of July,affecting the normal functioning of the schools.

IG (law and order) Raj Kanojia said the district administration has decided to shift the camps from schools. In fact,the administration in West Midnapore and Bankura were in search of alternative places where the personnel could stay,he said. But this would take some time,he added.

During the Lalgarh stalemate,the People’s Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) led by Chhatradhar Mahato had asked the villagers in Lalgarh to demand that the police camps at the schools and other locations be shut down. In response,the police administration had closed down the police camps at Ramgarh,Kalimuri as well as in other places in West Midnapore.

Now,district officials in West Midnapore suspect Mahato could well be behind the protests by students.

Kanojia,however,said: “It is difficult to say how far Mahato is involved in the agitation carried out by the students.”