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West Bengal wants CRPF in Nandigram till May

Special Correspondent

KOLKATA: The West Bengal government is keen on retaining the Central Reserve Police Force companies posted in Nandigram till the May rural elections, though their deployment tenure is to expire on February 12.

“We want the CRPF to continue till the panchayat elections,” Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Ray said here on Wednesday.

Yet to contact Centre

The State, however, was yet to take up the matter with the Centre.

Mr. Ray said the situation in Nandigram was peaceful and normality was being restored.

Development work there was stalled for over 11 months in the face of hostilities.

Withdrawal of cases

He said the local administration was looking into the possibility of withdrawing the minor cases lodged during the violence other than those related to major offences such as murder, rape, dacoity and arson. In all, nearly 600 cases were still pending, he said.

The Central forces were deployed in Nandigram on November 12, 2007 to help restore normality in the area, which was rocked by 11 months of violence involving activists of the Trinamool Congress-backed Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

The BUPC was spearheading an agitation against the setting up of industries on farmland.

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