High alert in West Bengal’s Maoist-hit districts
By IANSTuesday, July 6, 2010
KOLKATA - All police stations and security camps in three Maoist-hit districts in West Bengal are on “high alert” ahead of the 48-hour shutdown from Wednesday called by the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), police said Tuesday.
“Security has been beefed up in West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia,” state Director General of Police Bhupinder Singh said.
“No additional force will be deployed in the area but the existing forces have been kept on high alert so that they can react as early as possible to any adverse situation,” he said.
Maoists called the two-day nationwide strike starting Wednesday to protest the killing of their spokesperson Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad by the police in Andhra Pradesh.
A police officer in West Midnapore said: “The Maoists have vowed to take revenge for the death of Azad. Naturally there is every possibility of attacks in the state.”
Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel have been asked to keep a strict vigil along railway tracks passing through the three districts, a railway official said.
A Quick Response Team comprising RPF, Government Railway Police (GRP) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel has been deployed on trains and tracks along Kharagpur-Rourkela and Kharagpur-Adra sections, a South Eastern Railway spokesperson said.
“Movement of passenger trains have already been suspended” at night since the May 28 derailment of Gyaneswari Express that killed 148 people, he added.
