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‘Centre has not sought report on Nandigram’

KOLKATA: West Bengal’s Home Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakravarty said here on Tuesday that he had not received any communication so far from the Union Home Ministry seeking a report on the developments in Nandigram during the panchayat elections there on Sunday.

A Home Ministry spokesperson reportedly said on Monday that a detailed report had been sought on the developments in Nandigram that day.

The polls in Nandigram were overshadowed by an alleged assault by personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force on the officer-in-charge of the Nandigram thana and a spat between Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP Lakshman Seth and Deputy Inspector General of CRPF Alok Raj.

A first information report charging Mr. Raj with molestation of a woman was filed in the Nandigram thana. The CRPF officer later said the FIR was “false.”

Mr. Chakravarty said Inspector General of Police (Western Range) Rakesh Gupta was looking into the allegations and would submit a report to the Director General of Police.

The CRPF, deployed in Nandigram after violence in the area in November 2007, will remain posted there, Mr Chakravarty added.

Re-poll in four booths of Nandigram held during the day passed off peacefully.

The re-poll was ordered by the State Election Commission following complaints of irregularities during the panchayat elections.

Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia said the re-poll was held under tight security and there were no reports of any untoward incident.

The second of the three-phase elections will be held on Wednesday in five districts of the State.

Among the areas where polling is to be held is Singur in Hooghly district, where the Trinamool Congress had launched a campaign against the acquisition of farm land for industry in 2006 in the wake of the move to set up a car project there by Tata Motors.

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