Eerie calm in Kahalgaon

Sanjeev K Jha / TNN / Jan 22, 2008, 03:13 IST

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In protest against the police firings on Friday and Saturday that claimed at least five lives, Muslims of the area did not observe Muharram on Sunday.

KAHALGAON: An eerie calm prevailed in power-starved Kahalgaon, on the outskirts of silk city Bhagalpur, on the fourth day on Monday since violence erupted here on Friday even though an abortive bid was made to blow a power transmission tower and railway tracks were uprooted to disrupt coal supply to the National Thermal Power Commission (NTPC) plant here.
In protest against the police firings on Friday and Saturday that claimed at least five lives, Muslims of the area did not observe Muharram on Sunday.
The subdivisional town has been witness to widespread violence since Friday with locals under the banner of Kahalgaon Nagrik Sangharsh Samiti taking to the streets to demand uninterrupted power supply by the NTPC to the town.
The police had to open fire twice to quell the mob which had put up blockades at different places. The administration has put the toll in the violence at three.

State ADG (HQ) Abhayanand, who is camping here, and divisional commissioner H C Sirohi's peace initiative consisting of a citizens' meeting on Sunday evening followed by a peace march, appeared to be bearing fruits on Monday.
Abhayanand and Sirohi assured the citizens' meet that uninterrupted power supply would be made to Kahalgaon and its surrounding areas.
"The government will bear the cost of injured people's treatment. We will also forward your demand for removal of the DM and the SP to the government," one of the officials told the meet.

However, reports came in that the 44-km Lalmatia-Kahalgaon rail line, the only route through which coal is transported from Eastern Coalfields Ltd's Rajmahal mines to the NTPC plant, had been damaged at more than ten places. Apart from opening fish-plates and bending the tracks, the miscreants also damaged bridges no 6 and 7 with the help of explosives.
Also, an abortive bid was made to blow the power transmission tower.
CISF commandant Shyam Lal suspected left extremists' hand behind the freshincidents.
"Since the plant has been on the hit list of the extremists, they might have thought it better to fulfill their evil designs at a time when the civil area is disturbed," he said, adding patrolling in the area has been intensified.
As it is, the plant is faced with a situation in which it may have to stop production. "We have coal stocks that will last till Monday," said NTPC Kahalgaon plant GM Bishwanath Mukherji.
"The situation is under control now... We are keeping a tab on the anti-social elements out to fan popular anger," Bhagalpur DM Vipin Kumar said.
The calm in the town notwithstanding, irate locals were seen discussing how to seek justice for those killed in the police firing.
"We want criminal cases against guilty police officials," Kahalgaon municipality chairman Arvind Singh said, adding the town decided not to observe Muharram to express solidarity with the family members of those killed by the police.
Mohammad Asif nodded. "We did not take out the 'tazia' procession because we feel betrayed... The Nitish government's tall claims to provide security to the minorities notwithstanding, one Mohammad Khairuddin was dragged out by the police from his home at Kazipura, beaten up in full public view and then shot dead on Saturday," Asif, in his twenties, said and added another local, Mohammad Aslam, was injured and is hospitalised in a precarious condition.

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