Bardhaman Dot Com News Bureau
Burdwan, 28 Sep 04 :
The rice pilferage syndrome continues. The villagers of Galigram, under Galsi - I block blocked traffic of the NH2 over 5 hours demanding punishment of the concerned M.R. dealer & political figures associated with him. The villagers accused that, a nexus of ration dealer & local CPI(M) leaders, have looted their share of rice & other food grains under the Annapurna & Antodyoy schemes during the last two years, in spite they being Below Poverty Line, are entitled for the scheme. The agitation spread like fire to the neighbouring Mathurapur, Anuragpur, Bashapool areas & over 3000 poor villagers joined the agitation by blocking the NH2 at different areas. BDO Galsi-I, Sudeb Mukherjee rushed to the area along with a huge police force & announced that, the persons involved in the scam will be identified within 7 days. He also assured the villagers that legal steps will be taken against everyone involved in the scam. Based upon his assurance the blockade was removed at around 2 pm.

Another section of the villagers nabbed up a CPI(M) member, Ramhari Chakraboty & severely beat him dragging him out of the Galsi IV local committee office of the party. The party office was even locked by the angry villagers. Later another local party leader, Narayan Panja was assaulted by the angry mob. People also managed to nab up Sk. Yasin, the manager of Krishi Unnyan Samity, the organisation upon whom the rationing distribution was bestowed upon. Police rescued Yasin from the mob & arrested him.

The tension started from yesterday evening when the villagers of Galigram queried Chittarnajan Saha, a local ration dealer that how much rice was distributed under the schemes during the last two years. The villagers also demanded a list of the BPL card holders & beneficiaries among them from him. Saha declined to provide details & fled from his residence when the situation worsened. He took shelter at the local CPI(M) office with the mob chasing behind. The local leaders along with the ration dealer were assaulted by the mob when the leaders tried to shield Saha. Police arrived at the village & controlled the situation by rescuing both the dealer & the party leaders. 

The confrontation continued till late in the evening after the blockade was removed. A police picket has been posted in the village. A team of police officials led by the district police super is visiting the village this evening. A team of high level administrative officers including the ADM (Zilla Parishad), SDO Durgapur & local BDO is also in the area to control the situation. The police super, Niraj Kumar Singh informed, "tension is still persisting at the area but the situation is well under control. A villager, Anil Bagdi have been rescued in critical condition & over 12 persons have been arrested till now. Our drive to identify the miscreants will continue." 

The district secretary of the CPI(M), Amal Halder informed, "the BJP-TMC have provoked the poor people & attacked our local leaders. The miscreants even set fire at the houses of some of our leaders." He also complained that the BJP-TMC is purposely provoking the villagers against CPI(M) to `malign the party image'. The party officials have lodged a complain with the police.