Chidambaram, Buddhadeb review anti-Maoist operations

KOLKATA - Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram Saturday held a meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to review the operations against Maoists in the state even as the rebels triggered a landmine blast in Lalgarh ahead of his visit.

The meeting lasted about 40 minutes and Chidambaram did not speak to waiting media persons when he left the state secretariat, the Writers’ Buildings.

Chidambaram is slated to visit Lalgarh in West Midnapore district, about 200 km west of the metropolis, Sunday morning to take stock of the situation on the ground in the Maoist-dominated district.

Joint security forces comprising the central paramilitary troopers and state armed police began an offensive last June to flush out the Left-wing extremists from the area.

The review comes seven weeks after Chidambaram finalised the blueprint of the inter-state Operation Greenhunt at a meeting with four Maoist-affected eastern states - West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and Jharkhand.

A day ahead of Chidambaram’s visit, suspected Maoist guerrillas triggered a landmine blast in Lalgarh.

The blast in Bamal village, a few km from Lalgarh town, created a four-feet crater on the road.

“Raids are on in the area. They (the Maoists) may have triggered the blast,” West Bengal police chief Bhupinder Singh told IANS.

Television channels said three-four Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were injured in the blast. Bhupinder Singh said he had no such information.

Meanwhile, the Maoist-backed People’s Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) has called a 24-hour shutdown in West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia districts Sunday in protest the home minister’s three and a half hours’ tour.

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