Thursday, February 18, 2010

Force not prepared: Bengal

The West Bengal government till Wednesday continued to be the target of the families of the 24 Eastern Frontier Rifles jawans who died in Monday’s Maoist attack.

Angry men and women blocked the roads for nearly two hours near the headquarters of the state paramilitary force, EFR, near Kharagpur, about 120 km west of Kolkata.

On Monday afternoon, a band of about 80 Maoist guerrillas overran a EFR camp at West Midnapore’s Silda, about 170 km west of Kolkata, killing 24 jawans and looting weapons.

The relatives — mainly wives of the jawans — said, “We want the chief minister to come here. He has to take responsibility.” On Tuesday, a team of six state ministers had visited the area.

“We have given the ministers two months to fulfill our demands. Or, we will start agitations all over again,” said Kamala Dani, whose husband is an EFR jawan.

On Wednesday, a central government team led by DS Daduwal met West Midnapore district magistrate NS Nigam, and SP NK Verma. The team will make an assessment of the training needs of the state police personnel.

Dadwal was deputed to the home ministry last year to make a similar assessment for central forces last year.

Source : http://www.hindustantimes.com/kolkata/Force-not-prepared-Bengal/510085/H1-Article1-509997.aspx

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