By IANS,
Kolkata : At least 10 people opposed to land acquisition and belonging to Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) were injured Tuesday in clashes with the rival Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) cadres in West Bengal’s Nandigram region.
“We have got reports of fresh violence at Khejury area near Nandigram. We’ve already sent a police force to the area to bring the situation under control,” said S.S. Panda, superintendent of police, East Midnapore.
The police said that a group of CPI-M cadres attacked a rally, taken out by BUPC members in the troubled region, and injured the villagers. One BUPC activist received bullet injury and was admitted to a hospital in Nandigram in a serious condition.
“Four CPI-M supporters were also injured in the violent clash,” the police official said.
At least 40 people have been killed in Nandigram in East Midnapore district, about 150 km from here, since January 2007 when the region erupted in protest over proposed land acquisition for a special economic zone (SEZ) in collaboration with Indonesia’s Salim group for developing a chemical hub.
Since then, a turf battle between the CPI-M, which leads the state’s ruling Left Front, and the BUPC backed by the main opposition Trinamool Congress has led to repeated violence in the region.