Troops move towards Maoist-held villages; Centre alerts states

Lalgarh (WB), Jun 21 (PTI) Taking the operation to
liberate Lalgarh to its next phase, security forces on Sunday
surged deeper in the area to break the siege of 17 Maoist-held
villages as the Government of India warned of fresh violence
during the 48-hour strike called by Naxals in five states from
Monday.

A day after recapturing Lalgarh police station, troops
consisting of CRPF, BSF and West Bengal policemen started
advancing towards Ramgarh for sanitising the main road and
other connecting routes and wresting control of the villages.

But the 19-km journey from Lalgarh through dense forests
is likely to be tough as the road is littered with mines.

The strategy of the forces will focus on wresting control
of Barapelia, Chotopelia and Dalilpurchak in West Midnapore
district where top Maoist leaders, including Koteswar Rao,
were suspected to be holed up, senior police officers engaged
in the operation said.

Maoist-backed People's Committee against Police Atrocity
(PCPA) convener Chatradhar Mahato resides in Barapelia and it
also houses the PCPA headquarters.

In New Delhi, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram issued a
statement describing the situation in Lalgarh as "tense" and
asked politicians, people and NGOs to keep away from the
conflict area. "The situation in Lalgarh is sensitive and
continues to be tense besides CPI (Maoist) call for a bandh
tomorrow," he said.

The Home Ministry also issued an alert to Naxal-hit
states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West
Bengal, where Maoists have given the call for the strike.

Intelligence inputs have suggested that the "CPI(Maoist)
may indulge in demonstrative acts of violence by targeting
security forces and economic infrastructure such as trains,
buses, railway and bus stations and other places where people
are likely to gather in significant numbers," it said.

Meanwhile, a group of intellectuals, including film
personality Aparna Sen, theatre artistes Saonli Mitra and
Kaushik Sen and poet Joy Goswami, visited Lalgarh and met
Mahato. They tried to impress upon him that the ongoing strife
should be stopped immediately to save innocent people who have
been caught in the crossfire.

"We neither support the Maoist activity, nor do we
condone the brazen police action... we appeal to both sides to
come to the negotiating table," they told reporters.

The 17 villages have been out of bounds for the police
ever since a landmine blast targeted convoys of Chief Minister
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and then Union ministers Ram Vilas
Paswan and Jitindra Prasada on November 2. The PCPA was formed
after tribals alleged atrocities by police while rounding up
suspects in the attack. PTI TEAM