Buddhadeb and Paswan escape big mine blast

West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Union steel, chemicals and fertilisers minister Ram Vilas Paswan narrowly escaped a landmine explosion at Baruahati in Maoist-infested West Midnapore district on Sunday afternoon.

The explosion, allegedly by Maoist outfits, has exposed the failure of the West Bengal police and its intelligence wing in ensuring foolproof security for VIPs. Six policemen travelling in the Union minister’s pilot car were injured in the explosion. Two of them were admitted to Kolkata’s AMRI Hospital Sunday evening.

“It is a serious incident. Two policemen are in critical condition,” the chief minister said.

The explosion took place when the pilot vehicle (WB-62-5647) in Mr Paswan’s convoy was passing the Kalaichandi canal area at around 2 pm. “The four-wheeler was tossed in the air by the impact and left mangled.

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Siliguri turns into warzone, Army on call

Siliguri became a war zone on Thursday as mobs of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters and local residents fought pitched battles, as tension spread in the Darjeeling hill district.

The rioting forced West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in Kolkata to seek Army deployment, but with the situation improving later in the day the Army was asked to remain on standby. “I had a talk with Army officials and asked them to stay alert,” he said.

Flag marches were, however, held by paramilitary jawans, and in response to the state’s request New Delhi ordered the dispatch of 10 more companies — almost 1,000 men — of the CRPF, BSF and SSB. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC were imposed in Siliguri subdivision.

Rattled by the worsening crisis in the Darjeeling hills, the CM has called an allparty meeting on June 17 to find a political solution. “I request all people, in the hills and the plains, to maintain peace and amity,” he said. After the GJM sus pended its “indefinite” bandh in the hills for 60 hours, ostensibly to allow tourists to leave the area safely, some outfits like the Jan Chetna Morcha, Amra Bangali and Bangla Bhasa Bachao Samiti called a 48 hour bandh in the plains.

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