Other States - West Bengal   

Noisy scenes in Assembly

By Our Special Correspondent

KOLKATA, MARCH 10. Amid noisy scenes, with some Opposition members rushing to the well of the House, protesting "Left Front misrule" and "starvation deaths," the West Bengal Governor, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, informed the Assembly today of the "serious security threat to the eastern region of our country, particularly West Bengal." The threat, he said, was in the wake of "the heightened activities of some foreign intelligence agencies and fundamentalist organisations hostile to our country."

Though a close watch is being kept "on the State's international borders with Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal ... the inadequate deployment of the Border Security Force, the absence of fencing on portions of the border and the slow progress of the construction of border roads are some of the constraints in effectively securing the Indo-Bangladesh border," he said. Militant outfits such as the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation [KLO] and the United Liberation Front of Asom [with which the KLO is suspected to have links] "have been operating with support from certain elements based in a neighbouring country."

Members of the Trinamool Congress — the main Opposition party — some of whom carried placards criticising the State Government for its failures, kept raising slogans and shouting "Governor, go back" during the course of Mr. Gandhi's address. Mr. Gandhi, however, continued with his speech and left at the end with folded hands past the Opposition benches.

The Governor expressed concern over "the spectre of armed militancy in North Bengal and left-wing extremism in the western region of the State" though the KLO had been substantially marginalised. Under the State Government's Rashtriya Samavikas Yojna, 1,200 KLO militants and their linkmen were being provided with financial assistance for different projects.

"The activities of the left-wing extremists spearheaded by the CPI-ML [People's War] and the MCC pose a threat to the internal security concerns of the State," Mr. Gandhi said. "These extremist groups mostly operate out of the neighbouring States."

The Governor commended the State Government for ensuring "the steady trajectory of industrial growth and highly favourable investment climate in the State" as well as for implementing various poverty alleviation programmes in the rural development sector. "The State is now on a path of industrial resurgence and the buoyancy in the investment scenario is highly encouraging."

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Other States

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous | Engagements |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Updates: Breaking News |

Stories in this Section

Noisy scenes in Assembly

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu