POLICE FIRES AT AGITATED VILLAGES, OVER 20 FEARED INJURED
  

Bardhaman Dot Com News Bureau
Burdwan, 10 Sep 04 :
At least twenty tribal people of Diknagar village under Aushgram police station were injured when police fired to control an agitating mob this evening. Four of the seriously injured villagers including two women & a teenager has been admitted at the Burdwan Medical College & Hospital with bullet wounds. The confrontation broke out when the villagers started agitating against the Diknagar-I gram panchayet in protest of the unaccounted rice to be distributed among them under `Annapurna' & `Anntodoy' schemes of the government. Around thousand armed angry villagers marched towards the panchayet bhawan. They were informed that the rice allotted by the government was removed & sold in the open market on a regular basis. The villagers also demanded clarification from the panchayet leaders that, why the list of beneficiaries under these schemes has not been published. 

A huge police force rushed to the area & latthi charged & fired tear gas shells to control the mob. Later the police


Chanda Bauri at BMCH

open fired when the mob attacked the police. Police officials informed that, the angry mob even threw bombs to combat the police. The injured were ushered to the nearest Gushkara health center by the villagers & the severely injured were referred to the BMCH for better medical attention. Chanda Bauri (30), Chaabi Bauri (23), Tapas Bauri (14) & Anna Mete (26) were found to be lying unattended at the emergency section of the BMCH well after they arrived. Mete was hit at the lower abdomen while Chanda's chest was hit by a bullet. Chaabi Bauri, the most severe was hit by a bullet on her right eye. Tapas the least serious among the four was hit on the arm.


Tapas Barui, the teenager at hospital with bullet wounds

The district police super, Niraj Kr. Singh visited the hospital before rushing to Diknagar. He informed that, the police was forced to fire to control the mob after tear gas & other measures didn't work. He said, "if the police wouldn't have fired, the mob may have killed the pradhan & other members of the panchayet & could have resulted in a serious problem." He also confirmed that, the police have fired six rounds & have arrested eight villagers. The District magistrate, Subrata Gupta confirmed that, the incident was a `burst out of a pending problem on the same issue'. "We have asked for a details report on this from the SDO & will look into it after receiving the same" added he.

The political leaders however have started abusing each other for the incidence. The district secretary of the CPI(M), Amal Halder informed bardhaman.com, "the attack on the panchayet leaders & police was master-minded by the TMC & naxalite members. They are provoking the tribal to create their base amongst this section of the society."  He also confirmed that at least five of their supporters have been injured in the process. However, Prasanta Goswami, an ex-panchayet pradhan of the village & a TMC leader said, "the common villagers were protesting spontaneously against the theft of allotted rice by the CPI(M) owned panchayet members. The villagers were attacked by a group of armed CPI(M) activists before they were joined by the police." He also informed that the police fired at the villagers when ordered by the local CPI(M) leaders. "Our party has nothing to do with today's incidence. The CPI(M) is dragging us to mask their internal conflict, which resulted in today's tragedy" added Goswami.

Sources reveled that, tension was prevailing at the village since the last few days after issue of alleged theft of government allotted rice was made public by a section of the ruling party only. The district have seen clashes since the last few days over the issue of misuse & theft of rice allotted to the poor under these two schemes as well as to the students under the mid-day meal scheme.  A police picket have been posted at the village to control the tension.