West Bengal admits lack of alertness led to massacre (Night Lead)

KOLKATA - The West Bengal government admitted Thursday that lack of alertness led to the Maoist massacre of 24 security personnel in West Midnapore even as it set up a panel of experts to study the raid by the guerrillas.

Admitting the failures candidly, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee admitted that the Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) men were not alert enough at the Shilda camp when it was stormed Monday.

Bhattacharjee also said the inter-state crackdown on the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), which has become aggressive increasingly, would start shortly.

“There was lack of alertness when the attack occurred. And we should learn from our mistakes,” the chief minister said.

“This much I can say till I get the full report from the enquiry committee. I have instructed that all police stations and police camps should be kept on high alert,” he told mediaprsons here.

Twenty five people, including a civilian, were killed and several others injured in the Maoist attack, one of the bloodiest in West Bengal. Some of the security personnel were burnt to death.

“We have decided to form a committee to probe the Maoist attack. It will look into various aspects like how the entire incident happened, how many Maoists participated, what was the level of alertness of the security personnel,” Bhattacharjee said.

He said the enquiry would also throw light on the modus operandi of the guerrillas, who were believed to have sneaked into West Bengal from nearby Jharkhand and retreated to that state.

“We have come to know that the operation was organised by different Maoist squads. Some people from outside the state also participated. We are investigating every possible aspect of the case,” Bhattacharjee said, declining to divulge any further details about the enquiry committee and post-attack intelligence inputs.

Calling the attack “extremely heinous”, he said the state government had identified an alternative location in a nearby forest area to relocate the ravaged Shilda camp.

The enquiry committee would include senior officials from the state home department and police officers.

Bhattacharjee denied reports that the central government sent its two-member team to the camp without informing the state government. “The team informed us earlier about its visit and we have no reservations regarding the visit”.

Shilda is part of Binpur-II block under Jhargram sub-division. The local village council (Gram Panchayat) is controlled by the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).

It is located close to the jungles of Malabati and surrounded by areas like Kankrajhor, Belpahari, Jamboni, Bhimpur, Dhansol and Lalgarh - all dominated by the leftwing guerrillas.

The Maoists targeted the area and killed CPI-M leaders Anil Mahato in 2005 and Mangal Soren in 2008. This prompted the administration to deploy the EFR in Shilda in January 2009.