BDO office ransacked, teacher arrested

KOLKATA: Jafar Iqbal Laskar, a schoolteacher of Basanti in South 24-Parganas, was arrested on Friday for allegedly leading a group of villagers to ransack the local BDO office on Wednesday.
Iqbal, a teacher of Ramchandra High School, runs a voluntary organisation Sunderban Unnayan Niketan from Sonakhali that works to provide relief to Aila-affected people and repair embankments.
On Wednesday, when several villages in Basanti were again inundated during high tide, hundreds of angry villagers gheraoed and ransacked the BDO's office, protesting that the authorities had done nothing to repair the damaged embankments. The mob also heckled BDO Jayanta Mandal.
Iqbal was arrested while returning from school on Friday. He has been charged with ransacking the BDO office. His brother Zulfikar, however, alleged that the block development officer had singled out his brother among the protesters.
Many villagers of Basanti, Gosaba and Hingalganj complained that the fresh high tide has made conditions worse since Wednesday as many areas have again been inundated.