Kolkata, January 5: Two days after violence rocked Nandigram, near Haldia, the situation remained tense on Friday. The administration, meanwhile, is looking for ways to calm tempers raised by the government’s ‘proposal’ to acquire land for a Special Economic Zone to be developed in the area.

On Friday, the police held a series of meetings with local leaders spearheading the movement against land acquisition for the Indonesian Salim group’s proposed project. The villagers, meanwhile, have agreed to lift their blockade from Saturday, though many of them dug up roads near Sonachura-Khejuri road again on Friday.

After the police assured the locals that they would not conduct any raids for at least the next three days, villagers in certain pockets of Nandigram’s Block-1 said they would restore normalcy and make the roads accessible again. “The meeting was successful,” said Arun Kumar Gupta, Inspector General of Police (I-G), Western Range. “The police will not enter the area till calm is restored.”

Reiterating Thursday’s statement that outsiders were involved in the movement, Gupta said intelligence agencies have reported that illegal arms are being smuggled into the area.

Meanwhile, local SUCI leader Bhabani Prasad Das said the protestors are against violence. “We have urged the police to take immediate measures as the situation is slipping out of hand,” Das said. “Violence begets violence, and this might change the course of the movement.”

Earlier in the day, police detained seven men at a bus stop near Nandakumar, while another five were detained from nearby areas.

Infuriated by news of the detention, the villagers claimed that the men were innocent persons going to the state capital to rejoin work after the Eid vacation. Hundreds of people, with weapons in hand, came out on the roads as news spread in the area. “Police have agreed to release them,” SUCI’s Das said. In another development, PDS leader Samir Putotunda was stopped at Reyapara, near Nandigram, and not allowed to enter the area. SUCI has called a mass meeting tomorrow at Tanagar to decide on the future course of the movement.

Wait and watch in Kolkata

The Writers’ Buildings has, meanwhile, decided to wait and watch before taking the next step in the still-volatile area. Following a high-level meeting to discuss the Nandigram incident, state Home Secretary P R Ray said people in the area would be told that there is no reason to “get excited” because the government is yet to arrive at a final proposal on land acquisition.

“The government will take steps after tension subsides,” Ray said. “There will be interaction with the villagers.”

The Home secretary said police are monitoring the area and nothing can prevent the administration from restoring the rule of law. “If the administration wants, it can enter anywhere,” he said, “but we want things to get normal (first).” Ray said the administration is not interested in crushing an agitation. “People have the right to agitate (and) preventing demonstrations is not our policy.”

Meanwhile, CPI(M-L) Liberation state secretary Kartick Pal said the police must release all their cadres arrested in connection with Wednesday’s violence in Nandigram.