By IANS,
Nandigram (West Bengal) : An all-party meeting led by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattarcharjee here Saturday ruled out the deployment of paramilitary forces in a town close to this trouble-prone area of East Midnapore district of West Bengal.
“Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) deployment is not at all necessary in Nandigram,” said Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader and MP Laxman Seth, who also attended the meeting.
“In some cases, the state government can seek help from the central paramilitary force but there should be a valid reason behind it. People in Nandigram should respect the law and order system of the state machinery,” Seth told reporters after coming out of the meeting in East Midnapore’s district headquarters Tamluk town, about 120 km from state capital Kolkata.
He said CRPF was earlier deployed in Nandigram because, at that time, it was really urgent to restore normalcy in the region.
“But now the situation is not so bad and people should depend on the local police,” Seth said.
The state’s main opposition party Trinamool Congress and Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) stayed away from the meeting.
East Midnapore district Congress leaders demanded CRPF deployment in violence-hit Nandigram, after fresh tension simmered in the region over the death of a CPI-M activist, Dulal Garu Das, who was allegedly gunned down by the rival anti-land acquisition group Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) members Thursday.
A CPI-M leader, Niranjan Mondal, was shot dead Wednesday at Rajaramchak area of Nandigram by some unknown miscreants. The party blamed the Trinamool Congress-backed BUPC for the killing.