Shilda gun found with too-pat proof Maoist link probe announced

Shilda gun found with too-pat proof  Maoist link probe announced http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110523/jsp/bengal/story_14017764.jsp

OUR BUREAU

The arms dug out in Enayetpur on Sunday. Picture by Samir Mondal May 22: An Insas rifle snatched from the Shilda camp during a Maoist attack has been dug out by villagers around 500 metres from a deserted CPM office in West Midnapore, prompting police to probe if the erstwhile ruling party has had any links with the rebels. The seizure of sophisticated weapons near the CPM office at Enayetpur, the fortified site of a gun battle between cadres and the Maoists in 2009, dramatically raised the profile of the raids rolling across West Midnapore. As many as 24 Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) jawans were killed in the Maoist attack on the Shilda camp on February 15, 2010. But two standout features — seen as "too perfect" — are making police officers wonder if the cache was planted there. One, the arms were found along with a CPM flag. Two, the pit was freshly dug. CPM supporters would have run a high risk if they had sneaked back into the area, from which they had fled, recently to hide the weapons. Villagers led by Trinamul Congress workers had found the pit and dug out the weapons, which included an AK-56, eight .315-improvised rifles, 24 pipe guns and nearly 200 rounds of ammunition. This is the first time sophisticated arms have been found after raids began soon after the election results were announced. Till now, only improvised weapons had been found. West Midnapore Trinamul chairperson Mrigen Maity said: "It is now clear that the CPM had been using arms to unleash a reign of terror." The police, however, raised doubts. "There is a possibility that that the arms were planted. First, the earth under which the arms were buried was freshly dug. Also, if the arms were really hidden by CPM activists, why should they put a party flag along with the arms to announce that they are behind it?" a police officer said. On record, the police did not take any chances. Director-general of police Naparajit Mukherjee said the CID had been asked to investigate whether CPM activists were involved in the attack on the Shilda camp. "As the Insas rifle was recovered from Enayetpur, which was a stronghold of the CPM before the elections, the CID (that probed the Shilda incident) has been asked whether CPM activists were involved in the attack on the Shilda camp or whether there was any link between the CPM and the Maoists," he said. The CPM cried foul. Former industries minister Nirupam Sen said: "The CPM is not involved in stockpiling arms. Pressure is being mounted on the police to implicate our party activists." District police chief Manoj Verma said the Insas rifle had been stolen from the EFR camp but the AK-56 did not belong to the force. Intelligence branch officers said it was possible that CPM activists had got the rifle during one of the several gun battles between them and the Maoists. "It could be that armed CPM cadres had taken the Insas rifle from a Maoist guerrilla killed in a battle with them," an officer said. According to intelligence reports, several AK-47, AK-56 and self-loading rifles were stockpiled in parts of West Midnapore and Bankura. "Today's recovery appears to be the tip of the iceberg," another officer said. Camouflage dress The police have recovered 58 sets of "camouflage dress" from a CPM zonal committee office in East Midnapore's Patashpur after a Trinamul uproar. "We searched the CPM office and found 58 sets of camouflage dress generally used by security forces," Mukherjee said. Hriten Pradhan, a CPM zonal committee secretary, said the uniforms were made for cadres before a party conference 10 years ago. "But district leaders opposed the use of such a dress and they were replaced with white trousers and red shirts. The other dress was never used," he said. Govt moots advisory panel for Presidency BISWAJIT ROY Calcutta, May 22: The government will constitute an advisory committee to suggest ways to ensure academic excellence at Presidency University, higher education minister Bratya Basu said today. "We have decided to form a committee of academics to recommend good teachers as well as the syllabus for Presidency,'' Basu told The Telegraph. The move follows a clearance from chief minister Mamata Banerjee. "We want the best teachers to join the institution. I have already taken the chief minister's consent on the formation of the committee. She is quite concerned about Presidency's future. The committee is likely to be formed by next week,'' Basu said. Government sources said noted academics and Presidency alumni, including Sugata Marjit, Sugata Basu and Partha Chatterjee, would be invited to be part of the committee. "We will encourage the participation of alumni, including scholars, in ensuring academic excellence and better functioning,'' Basu said. Admissions to undergraduate courses in Presidency will begin soon. The Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government had passed the Presidency University bill at the fag end of its last term after years of complaints about political control over higher education at the cost of academic freedom and quality, particularly in institutions like Presidency. Although the law aims to ensure autonomy, many former students have expressed apprehension that the provision for elections to Presidency's governing bodies still allowed scope for political intervention and remote control. Instead, they suggested noted academics should be "invited" to such bodies and not be made to face "elections and selections" that could dissuade them from coming on board. "We would look into the apprehensions of political intervention. Our government wants to ensure academic and functional autonomy not only to Presidency but also to other universities and colleges. "We would see to it that there is an end to punishment posting for those teachers who had opposed the intervention of the ruling party (during the Left government's tenure), '' Basu said. "Also, my priority would be to fill up vacancies for teaching posts in colleges," he added. On Saturday, the minister had announced an advisory committee to review the entire higher education and suggest improvements. "I will meet the vice-chancellors of the state universities after getting feedback from the advisory committee,'' he said today. Ministers look to shed party posts BARUN GHOSH Calcutta, May 22: Purnendu Bose today offered to quit as the Bengal president of the Trinamul Congress-affiliated trade union, two days after becoming labour minister. "My job as labour minister is to address labourers' problems and not to agitate in support of their demands," Bose said this evening. He claimed to have got a go-ahead from Mamata Banerjee. Bose's move has prompted other Trinamul leaders recently appointed ministers in Mamata's cabinet to reconsider their organisational responsibilities. Mamata's roles as chief minister and Trinamul chairperson are considered tough to balance. Then there are other ministers juggling such dual roles like state Trinamul president Subrata Bakshi, secretary general Partha Chatterjee and youth wing chief Madan Mitra. Mamata, who is also overseeing key portfolios such as home, land and land reforms and health, is expected not to devote much time to party work. "Now Didi, being at the helm in the state administration, may not find quality time to monitor the organisational work. She may not have even the time to chair the monthly core committee meeting as she used to do a couple of months ago," a Trinamul general secretary said. Bakshi, the transport and public works department minister, said it would be difficult for him to work for the party. "Mamatadi has asked us to set aside at least one to two hours for the party daily and three to four hours on Sundays. We may be ministers but at the same time we will have to keep our organisational strength intact after people in large numbers voted for us braving the CPM's onslaught," he said. Bakshi claimed that he had spent over three hours at Trinamul Bhavan this afternoon. "Our workers are being attacked in various places across the state by CPM activists and we must stand by distressed party workers at this juncture," he said. Chatterjee, who is overseeing industries and parliamentary affairs, is rushing to those places where Trinamul workers were attacked. Mitra, the minister of state for sports, admitted to not giving time to the party's youth wing. "As minister, it is not possible for me to organise youth movements as I used to do in my capacity as the party's youth wing chief," he added. The Congress is also said to be considering a change of guard after state party president Manas Bhuniya was appointed irrigation and small-scale industries minister. Bhuniya, however, said he would continue in the party post. Power Sunday balm on Friday ache  Mamata week starts on weekend TAMAGHNA BANERJEE Mamata Banerjee spent her first Sunday as chief minister working from home to script a weekend work ethic for her colleagues that Ratan Tata's employees might wish they never have to follow. "She has been aching all over since Friday's walk but there is no stopping her. The enormity of the tasks she wants to complete demand such a feverish pace and the best we can do is try to keep pace with her," Krishna Chakraborty, a Trinamul councillor from Salt Lake, told Metro. Mamata began her day at 6.30am, as usual, exercised for a while and got down to work the moment she finished reading the newspapers over breakfast. By 11.30am, state PWD and transport minister Subrata Bakshi and railway minister Mukul Roy were at 30B Harish Chatterjee Street to note down a to-do list drawn up by their boss. Bakshi's brief was to compile a list of heritage structures, condemned buildings and all other properties under the PWD. "She also asked me to file a report on the bridges in and around the city, mentioning which agency was in charge of each. I was asked to do the same for all roads," Bakshi said while leaving Mamata's house at 1.30pm along with Roy, who was briefed on all the rail projects she had started, including their current status. Around 10 minutes after the duo had left, a barefoot Mamata made an appearance at the main door for the meet-and-greet session that has become a part of her routine since Bengal's historic Friday the 13th. "Please give me a few days to settle down. If you come like this every day, I won't be able to work. I feel bad making you wait outside but you must understand that I have a lot of work to do. So please co-operate; I will solve all your problems," implored Mamata. In the crowd of around 250 people was Tollywood's Bangladeshi actor Firdaus, who had arrived around 11.30am with a colleague but wasn't let in. "Bless me, Didi," said Firdaus, handing her a bouquet and a cheque for Rs 5,000 as a donation to the chief minister's relief fund. Mamata, her hand on the actor's head, chatted with him for a while before asking the crowd to queue up if they wanted to meet her. The cops on duty immediately formed a human barricade with each visitor approaching Mamata from the right and exiting from the left. Some fell prostrate, others bent to touch her feet, a few pushed a currency note into her hands. A woman gave her a pen and asked: "I want you to write with this. Will you?" Mamata passed the pen to an aide, muttering: "Eita rakho bhalo kore. Aami likhbo aajke eita diye (Keep this properly. I will write with it today." "I am a big fan of her. I have come to Calcutta on work and I could not afford to miss a glimpse of Mamata," said Madhab Chakraborty, who runs a business in Tripura. Chakraborty, wife Chaiti and daughter Madhurima waited the entire afternoon to meet Mamata. About the only time Mamata seemed to lose patience was when someone appeared to trample a tulsi plant at her doorstep. "Please don't harm the plants. Move aside, I said, move aside," she screamed. Bakshi said the chief minister's weekday and weekend routines were unlikely to change. "This is the way it will be from now on. Mamata also plans to continue touring the city regularly. If she doesn't find time to do that in the evening, she will probably step out after midnight." Employees of various government departments should be prepared for "surprise checks", Bakshi said. Afternoon darshan over, Mamata disappeared behind her home's green door for around two-and-a-half hours before re-emerging at 4.25pm, accompanied by councillor Chakraborty. A fresh crowd had gathered by then and Mamata touched their outstretched hands along the barricade as she walked towards her chamber attached to the adjacent Trinamul office. She would occasionally stop to listen and check whether "everyone was comfortable". As she neared the door to the office, Mamata said: "All of you go home, please…Go and take some rest. I have some work to do." It was 6.20pm when Mamata walked back home, once again greeting people along the way and promising to look into their problems. CM prod for Joka Metro - Ministers study proposed change of track for CTC OUR BUREAU Mamata Banerjee on Sunday asked two Trinamul ministers, one at the Centre and the other in her government, to end the impasse holding up the BBD Bag-Joka Metro Railway project. The chief minister also asked Mukul Roy, the minister of state for the railways, and Subrata Bakshi, the state minister for transport and public works, to explore the possibility of Metro taking over the tram service from the transport department. Mamata met the two ministers at her Harish Chatterjee Street house for around two hours from 11.30am. Roy and Bakshi will meet again on Tuesday to discuss the issues. "The chief minister has asked us to solve the problems impeding the BBD Bag-Joka project at the earliest. I will collect all details from Metro officials before Tuesday's meeting," said Roy. Work on the 16.72km route, launched by President Pratibha Patil last September, is being hampered because of the Calcutta Tramways Company's refusal to allow construction on the Joka-Behala Bazar and Mominpur-Kidderpore stretches. The transport minister in the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government, Ranjit Kundu, had held back the consent on the grounds that the work would leave the tram tracks on the two stretches unusable for five years, the estimated duration of the project. A number of meetings were held between Metro and government officials but a solution proved elusive. Transport department sources said after the meeting at Mamata's house that the CTC clearance might soon be issued. Metro officials said the delay would escalate the project cost, initially calculated at Rs 2,600 crore. "The state government should allow the work to continue as the link would solve transportation problems of the people living on the southern fringes," said a senior Metro official. Mamata and the two ministers also studied the proposal to hand over the CTC to Metro Railway for better running of the environment-friendly mode of transport. "Trams are incurring huge losses because of inept handling by the transport department. We'll find out whether Metro would be able to turn the service around," said a transport department source. "I'll submit a detailed report to the chief minister in a couple of days on what can be done about this," said transport minister Bakshi. Sachin strokes revive Howrah school's dream RITH BASU Sachin Tendulkar signs one of the bats he donated and (below) leafs through pages of Sachindia A pen stroke by Sachin Tendulkar has brought almost as much joy to some of his young fans as his cricket strokes have over the years. Five bats signed by the master will be auctioned to fund the expansion of a primary school for underprivileged students in Howrah's Tikiapara. Sachin signed the bats on Wednesday in a Mumbai hotel where he was staying with his Mumbai Indian team-mates before their IPL match against the Rajasthan Royals. "He took no more than five minutes to agree to help the slum school, once he heard that it needed money to build a floor to house the classroom for standard VI, a library and a staff room," said Prashant Desai, an investment banker from Mumbai who corresponded with the cricketer regarding the project. Samaritan Mission, the school, set up in 2001 with six students, now has 800. It needs Rs 15 lakh to offer education till Class VI. With two companies picking up two of the signed bats for Rs 3 lakh each, the dream that school founder Mamoon Akhtar nurtures of adding classes each year and eventually affiliating the school to the ICSE board has received a shot in the arm. "We had been looking for expansion funds for a year without success and I was beginning to worry that we would have to put the plan on the back burner, when my friend Mudar Patherya came up with the idea of getting help from Sachin Tendulkar. In the end, everything happened smoothly," said Akhtar, who had dropped out of St Thomas Church School, Howrah, in Class VII because his parents could not fund his education. He cleared Class XII as a private candidate. Patherya, who runs Trisys Communication in Calcutta, was working on a book calledSachindia, on Team India's recent World Cup win, that Sachin was to launch. "Initially, we had planned to get 200 copies of the book signed by Sachin. I had also got a well-known bookstore chain to display them for free and give away the sales proceeds to the school. But Sachin made it simple when he said that he would sign five bats which we could simply sell or auction on eBay," Patherya told Metro. On Wednesday, Sachin not only signed the bats but also a few of the books. He asked for two of his photographs published in the book to be mailed to him. "The book is a collage of images and statistics along with reports published in various newspapers after the World Cup victory. He asked for two photographs to be mailed to him — one in which he is raising his bat to the heavens and the other of Yusuf Pathan and other team-mates lifting him during a victory lap," said Patherya. Sachin did not say much about the charity except that he was proud to be a part of the event and that he liked the book immensely, added Patherya. Salt Lake sceptical about shift BRINDA SARKAR AND SUCHETA CHAKRABORTY The new government's plan to bring Salt Lake under the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) has received a thumbs down from a section of residents, who are confused about the implications of the shift. "When the CMC itself has a poor record of managing Calcutta, how can they take on more responsibility?" asks Mukul Majumdar of DL Block. The CMC, he says, is used to tackling problems of an old city whereas Salt Lake is a new, planned city with a different set of problems. Ashim Kumar Roy of CE Block thinks Salt Lake is well-managed as it is small. "There will be chaos and mismanagement if they club it with Calcutta," he says. "The CMC already has to manage areas of diverse character. It has a Camac Street as well as a Naktala. One has to see whether Salt Lake turns to Naktala," says retired bureaucrat Debabrata Bandyopadhyay, who is chairman of the expert committee for Salt Lake that Mamata Banerjee had set up after Trinamul won the 2010 civic elections. The distance to SN Banerjee Road, where the CMC is headquartered, is another factor that bothers him. "Most landlords of Salt Lake are senior citizens. Precious little can be done in a borough office if that is what Poura Bhavan turns into." That is BE Block's Rupnarayan Bose's main concern as well. "Why should I have to go to central Calcutta for getting a plan sanctioned?" Colonel Diptibhusan Das Bhowmik sees "nothing to rejoice about" in being clubbed with the CMC. "People call it chor-poration because of corruption. Then again, Bidhannagar Municipality has not done much in the last few years either." The suggestion also triggered confusion. "Will inclusion under the CMC mean a shift of our court, police and electricity utility too? I'm tired of running to Barasat for court-related matters or to meet the police superintendent. When sitting for competitive exams such as WBCS, Salt Lake residents are allotted seats in distant villages as we come under North 24-Parganas and not in the city," said Rupa Ghosh of AB Block. "Whenever we approach the police we are told that they are short-staffed. I hope coming under the CMC means Salt Lake will shift from Bengal police to Calcutta police, who will do a better job," said Nimai Chand Gupta of BJ Block. But Ghosh is wary of paying taxes at the CMC rate, which is higher. The only silver lining is the hope of better water supply. "Salt Lake suffers from water shortage and has to depend on the CMC for much of its supply. If we are under the CMC, supplying us water will be its responsibility," says Gupta of BJ Block. According to sources in the civic body's water supply division, the CMC is supposed to provide 6.5 million gallons per day to Bidhannagar Municipality but gives around 4.8 mgd. The full requirement for Salt Lake's planned area is about 9.5 mgd. So a lot of water has to be drawn from underground. Bandyopadhyay lists another positive in the CMC's greater financial power compared with the cash-strapped township civic body. "But there should be a public debate on what benefits the local residents before a decision is taken," he suggests. TOP FIVE QUERIES What will happen to Poura Bhavan? Will I have to go to the CMC headquarters for ferrule cleaning, trade licence, birth or death certificates or building plan sanction? Can I still call my local councillor to lodge complaints? Will Salt Lake come under CESC instead of WBSEDCL? Will surveillance shift from state police to Calcutta police?