Its coming out to be a bad day for the West Bengal Government, as after the Calcutta High Court lashed the government over the Nandigram issue, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Sriprakash Jaiswal rejected Chief Minister Buddhdeb Bhattacharjees claim that the Centre delayed the deployment of the CRPF in the violence-hit area.
Kolkata, Nov 16 : It's coming out to be a bad day for the West Bengal Government, as after the Calcutta High Court lashed the government over the Nandigram issue, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Sriprakash Jaiswal rejected Chief Minister Buddhdeb Bhattacharjee's claim that the Centre delayed the deployment of the CRPF in the violence-hit area.
"I don't know what the Chief Minister has said, but the Centre did not delay in sending CRPF for Nandigram," Jaiswal said here today.
On November 13, Bhattacharjee had said that Centre had delayed the request the State Government made in connection with the deployment of CRPF in Nandigram.
"I wrote to the Home ministry on October 27, but they informed me on November 5 that they could not provide central forces, because they were to be sent to Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh," Bhattacharjee had said.
Earlier today, the Calcutta High Court dismissed all petitions filed by the Buddhadeb Bhattacharya Government in connection with the Nandigram violence on March 14.
The High Court asked the State Government to give compensation of five hundred thousand rupees to the families of those who were killed, two hundred thousand rupees to women who were raped or molested, and one hundred thousand rupees to those who were injured.
The court also rejected the plea of Advocate General Balai Roy, and directed the government to continue the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) inquiry into the matter.
Terming the March 14 killing in Nandigram as "totally unconstitutional", the high court stated that the incident could have been avoided had the police exercised self-restraint.
A six-member National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) team recorded the statements of several villagers in Nandigram who were rendered homeless during the recent recapture of its control by Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) cadres from the rival Bhumi Uched Praitirodhi Committee (BUPC) activists.
"We are recording the statements of the affected people who are staying at a relief camp in a school here," Special Superintendent of Police S P Singh, leading the team of National Human Rights Commission said on Friday.
Four representatives of the six-member NHRC team visited the relief camp in the Brajamohan Tiwari Shikshaniketan. Earlier, the NHRC issued a notice to the West Bengal Government directing it to submit a factual report on the conditions prevailing in Nandigram within 10 days.
The West Bengal Government had planned to set up a Special Economic ZoneSEZ) for chemical industries in Nandigram, but had to abort the project as villagers refused to give their farmland for the project.
The row saw violent clashes between residents opposed to the project and the communist supporters as well as police.
At least six villagers were killed and dozens injured in Nandigram last week in clashes between rival groups led by Communists and a frontal organisation backed by Trinamool Congress party.
ANI