LF threatens stir over ECL rehab

DURGAPUR: Leader of the opposition in the assembly, Surjya Kanta Mishra, visited Pandaveswar MLA Gouranga Chatterjee in hospital on Wednesday. Chatterjee was admitted to The Mission Hospital in Bidhan Nagar after alleged police lathicharge over 'forcible land acquisition' at Hansdiha village the day before.
The Left Front had called a 24-hour bandh on Wednesday across Pandaveswar, Jamuria and Raniganj, which kept vehicles off the road, offices closed and hampered coal production. The four persons arrested after Tuesday's violence have been remanded in jail custody till June 29. Work on the Hansdiha coal patch extension project, which had sparked off the trouble, continued however.
The Left Front team that visited the spot on Wednesday included CPM politburo member Nirupam Sen, district secretary Amal Halder apart from Mishra. Nirupam Sen called the alleged lathicharge "undemocratic".
"Trinamool Congress is an important ally of the UPA-II government at the Centre. It should discuss the rehabilitation issue with the Union coal ministry and sort out the problem. Or, we will not allow any further work on the private patch. As it is, Citu is against outsourcing of ECL coal patches in Bengal because it will ultimately lead to privatization of coal mines," Sen alleged.
Sources in ECL, a subsidiary of Coal India Ltd, defended their decision, saying they were already running huge losses and were trying hard to come out of it. If it fails to excavate additional coal from its virgin patches, coal production and target achievement would be seriously hampered, they pointed out.
Mishra said the process of industrialisation had already suffered a huge setback in the state. He refused to comment on the Singur land issue as it was a "legal matter", but said: "We also want both the willing and unwilling farmers to get back their land in Singur, but no one's sure if that is at all possible. Had the Left Front formed the government, it could have tried to convince the farmers in favour of the need of the small car factory."
After Tuesday's violence and the subsequent police raid, men have fled villages like Hansdiha, Bonbohal, Kuchibera, Madhudanga, Bhaluka, Basakdanga, Bazari, Sonepur, Vatmora, Nabagram and Bandhghat. Apart from Chatterjee, Asansol MP Bansa Gopal Choudhury had also suffered minor injuries while trying to flee during the alleged lathicharge.
Humayun Kabir, the SP of Burdwan, defended the decision of Pandaveswar police to lathicharge and quell the mob but claimed that no one had lathicharged the MLA. "He was simply playacting. He lay down on the ground when no policeman was even chasing him," Kabir claimed.
The district CPM leadership has alleged that Kabir, who was once considered to be close to the Left, switched loyalties since the Mongolkote incident when Manas Bhunia was chased by a mob across fields, and of late has become close to Union minister of state, Mukul Roy.