One killed as fresh violence erupts in Nandigram

Nandigram Again : Marketization

One killed as fresh violence erupts in Nandigram


One killed as fresh violence erupts in Nandigram

By IANS
Sunday April 29, 02:14 PM
Kolkata/Nandigram, April 29 (IANS) Fierce gun battles and bomb attacks between an anti-land acquisition group and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) men broke out in West Bengal's trouble-torn Nandigram Sunday, claiming one life, as the area turned into a combat zone since morning.
'We have confirmed report of one person dying in the clash, but cannot say to which side the victim belongs,' Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia told IANS.
Bengali TV channel reports said the victim was a CPI-M supporter, Dilip Mondal of Gokulnagar in Nandigram, about 150 km from Kolkata in East Midnapore district.
However, one TV channel said another CPI-M activist, Mohit Karan, had also died in the firing.
According to reports, several houses were set on fire in an area bordering Nandigram and CPI-M-controlled Khejuri during the clash. A heavy exchange of fire and bomb attacks broke the fragile peace in the area
Several people sustained bullet injuries in the clashes. Many injured have been admitted to hospital, police said.
'We have got reports of fresh violence. The area where the clashes occurred is an interior pocket called Satrangi Bazar under Nandigram. The place is so remote that policemen had to walk 10-15 km to reach the spot,' Kanojia said.
'We are taking measures to quell the situation,' he said even as local people alleged that police were playing the role of mute spectator.
Abdus Samad, a leader of the Bhum Uchched Pratirodh Committee (Committee to Prevent Farmland Acquisition) that spearheaded the movement against land acquisition for industry, said: 'The CPI-M men from Khejuri were firing on us for the past few days. Saiful Haq, who is around 40, was injured in the firing on Sunday. They have also set on fire several houses.'
'Of what I heard many were injured in the firing,' Samad told IANS from the troubled area.
'Khejuri has been turned into a dangerous camp from where CPI-M attack people in Nandigram. The CPI-M men are even raping their own women there in the camp,' alleged Sisir Adhikari, Trinamool Congress East Midnapore district president.
'We have every right to protect ourselves,' he said.
Trouble has been brewing for the past few days.
On Friday, Communist Party of India (CPI) legislator from Nandigram S.K. Ilias Mohammed was allegedly assaulted by Trinamool Congress supporters in Nandigram while in CPI-M-controlled Khejuri there were sporadic reports of firing.
On March 14, at least 14 people were killed and over a hundred injured when police opened fire to quell a mob protesting proposed takeover of agricultural land for a special economic zone (SEZ) and a chemical hub in collaboration with the Salim group of Indonesia in Nandigram.
The proposed SEZ was scrapped after the March 14 mayhem but Nandigram has continued to remain tense.
While Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has been requesting the opposition parties to thrash out a peace initiative to restore normalcy, parties like Trinamool Congress refused to heed to his pleas and instead demanded that the CPI-M first stop violence in the area, especially the firings resorted to by their men from Khejuri.
Nandigram has been on the boil since early January when six villagers were killed by alleged CPI-M men.
Thousands of people are still homeless as sporadic violence continues despite the chief minister's assurance that no land would be acquired in the area for any project.
A hearing into the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)'s report into the Nandigram carnage by the Calcutta High Court remained deferred amidst reports that apart from killings there were also atrocities committed on women during the police action.