By IANS
Kolkata : A 12-hour shutdown in Nandigram called by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Monday received a mixed response.
The shutdown affected life in Nadigram, Khejuri, Bhangabera and Tekhali areas of the trouble-torn East Midnapore region, about 150 km from Kolkata.
“The shutdown is peaceful so far and we have received no reports of clashes from the area. We have made adequate police arrangements to tackle the situation there,” West Bengal Inspector General (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia told IANS.
He said many police contingents and Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel have already been deployed in violence-prone areas.
“There is of course tension over rallies and counter rallies by the warring groups but the police is ready with sufficient forces,” Kanojia said.
The CPI-M has called the shutdown to protest the death of two party workers on July 29 in a clash with Bhumi Uchched Partirodh Committee (BUPC), the anti land acquisition group.
CPI-M patriarch Jyoti Basu has said the farmers’ movement in Nandigram is undemocratic and the police firing on March 14 that left 14 dead and many injured there could not be compared to the one in Andhra Pradesh’s Khammam where during a shutdown police had fired on a mob of CPI-M supporters killing eight people.
At least 23 people have died in Nandigram since January when the region erupted in protest over proposed land acquisition for a special economic zone (SEZ) in collaboration with Indonesia’s Salim group and a chemical hub.