Chidambaram arrives in Lalgarh amidst shutdown call

LALGARH - Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram arrived in this Maoist-infested belt of West Bengal’s West Midnapore district Sunday to review the situation amidst a shutdown called by a pro-ultra tribal body.

Chidambaram, who flew in a helicopter from Kolkata in the morning, landed near the Lalgarh police station and went inside it to talk to the security forces troopers.

He is also scheduled to go to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in the area.

The tribal body People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) has called a one day shutdown in West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia districts Sunday to protest the home minister’s three-and-a-half hour tour to the areas.

The PCAPA has also called an indefinite blockade in the three districts from Monday claiming that the security forces were torturing innocent villagers.

Suspected Maoist guerrillas had triggered a landmine blast in Lalgarh Saturday. Chidambaram’s visit to the Lalgarh belt, about 200 km west of the metropolis, comes about nine-and-a-half months after the joint forces comprising central paramilitary troopers and state armed police began an operation to flush out the left-wing extremists from the area.