Security forces capture Kantapahari, hub of tribal agitation

Saibal Gupta

Kantapahari (WB), June 29 (PTI) India's security
forces Monday took control of Kantapahari, setting up a police
camp after four years in the hub of Maoist-backed tribal
agitation, with the Government of eastern state of West Bengal
claiming that 95 per cent of the areas have been wrested from
the ultras in West Midnapore district.

Around 1600 personnel of paramilitary forces, police
and CoBRA, the special anti-naxal force, reached Kantapahari
from both Lalgarh and Ramgarh ends as a helicopter kept an
aerial vigil.

The Maoists set off a landmine and fired at the
security forces in a forested area between Pirakata and
Lalgarh but the troops retaliated.

DIG CID (Special Operations Group) Siddhinath Gupta
said here that the forces were now in full control of
Kantapahari. A police camp had existed here till 2005 but was
withdrawn. "A camp will be set up here after all these years."

In Kolkata, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
informed that the joint forces had been able to liberate
nearly 95 per cent of the areas. The operations had been
bloodless with no major encounter.

Security forces reached Boropelia village, home of
People's Committee Against Police Atrocities convenor
Chhatradhar Mahato, leader of the group spearheading the
agitation, but he remained elusive. He had been spotted in
Kantapahari yesterday. However, police were confident that
they will soon arrest him soon.

"We will arrest him (Mahato)," DIG (Midnapore Range)
Praveen Kumar said.

He said that the operations had not ended. "Entering
Kantapahari was part of it."

The forces, comprising the CRPF, BSF, State Armed
Police and India Reserve Battalion, set out at around 7:00 AM
from Lalgarh, secured on June 19 in the first phase of the
operations and Ramgarh, taken over last Saturday, a senior
CRPF officer said.

The police would remain till normalcy was restored,
the chief minister was quoted as saying by PWD Minister Kshiti
Goswami after a cabinet core committee meeting.

The chief minister also assured the ministers that the
Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act under which the Centre
recently banned the Communist Party of India (Maoist) would
not be used indiscriminately.

Midnapore district police superintendent Manoj Verma
said "People have come forward to cooperate. We hope this
cooperation will continue. We will establish the rule of law."

Kantapahari and surrounding villages of Boropelia,
Chottopelia and Dalilpur Chowk, were the places where the
tribals backed by Maoists had launched their agitation in
protest against police atrocities in November last year
following a landmine blast in which Chief Minister Buddhadeb
Bhattacharjee and two Union Ministers had a narrow escape.

The Maoists went on the rampage targeting ruling
CPI(M) cadres and offices and had virtually taken control of a
large area in West Midnapore district after driving away
police and paramilitary forces.

When the forces re-entered Chhotopelia, Boropelia and
Dalilchawk villages, they were deserted except for a few
elderly people.

Parvati Kisku, a woman who had to take care of her
paralytic sister, said she had to stay behind as she could not
leave her sibling.

Prafulla Patra, whose son is a paraplegic, also said
the same thing. Apart from Kisku and Patra, two or three aged
couples were still in the village.

According to the police, Mahato's PCPA which opened
"relief camps" at Dewantikri and Kantapahari had cooked
'khichri' for the inmates and supervised its distribution.

Last night, a PCPA meeting was held at Dalilchawk
where it was decided that it would be ensured that their
leaders were not arrested, sources said.

Meanwhile, at the Narcha relief camp, a woman who had
given birth to boy five days ago was worried as he had fallen
ill. The security forces after moving in called up the BDO
and asked him to see that she received medical attention. PTI