Security forces reclaim Lalgarh police station from Maoists control

20 June : Security forces on Saturday stormed Lalgarh and without much resistance reclaimed the police station under control of Maoists as an anti-landmine vehicle cleared the path for the security personnel who reached the police station to take charge of the building.

Security forces today moved into Lalgarh to snuff out the six-day old siege by Maoists who ambushed a convoy en route to the area in West Midnapore district injuring six policemen.A landmine, hidden underneath a culvert, exploded as a convoy ferrying security forces passed over it on the West Midnapore-Bankura district border injuring four policemen, Superintendent of Police, Burdwan, Humayun Kabir, who was leading the men told the news agency.

A group of around 60 Maoists then fired at the convoy injuring another two, he said.In Delhi, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said the West Bengal government was considering banning the CPI(Maoists) following a suggestion by Home Minister P Chidambaram.

The first group of securitymen arrived at Lalgarh police station, which had been cut off by the tribals since November last year, with the police saying that it was a 'partial victory'.DIG (Midnapore Range) Praveen Kumar told an impromptu press conference before the police station, "It is a partial victory. The hundred per cent operation is yet to be completed. It may take days, even weeks to do this."

Maoist leader Koteswar Rao, who is believed to be providing leadership to the agitation at Lalgarh, today said that the West Bengal government should stop the police operation and hold talks with the people to find a solution to their problems.

"It is a partial victory. The hundred per cent operation is yet to be completed. It may take days, even weeks to do this," DIG (Midnapore Range) Praveen Kumar told an impromptu press conference outside the Lalgarh police station.

An anti-landmine vehicle cleared the path for the security personnel who reached the police station to take charge of the building.Central forces, comprising men from BSF and CRPF, fanned out in the forests for combing operations against the Maoists. 

The securitymen donning camouflage and bullet-proof vests sanitised the five-km stretch of Jhitka jungle, a Maoist area near here.AK-47 and Insas rifle-toting securitymen came under intermittent fire from Maoists at the Pingboni-Sarenga road today, Superintendent of Police Burdwan Humayan Kabir said adding two landmines planted on the road were defused.Lalgarh police station was out of bounds since November last year when tribals under the banner of People's Committee Against Police Atrocities launched a boycott of police to protest raids on their homes following a landmine blast targeting Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee's convoy.

"We have an agenda to establish the rule of the law. Our next move will be to clear 42 villages in areas in Lalgarh from the agitators," Kumar said.Though it normally takes two hours to reach Lalgarh from Midnapore, security forces took three days."We moved with caution. We took measures not to risk the lives of ordinary people," Kumar said.When the security forces were driving from Pingboni, they were obstructed by a number of women. 

The forces were moving cautiously for the last two days to avoid civilian casualties, he said.On areas declared 'liberated' by the agitators, he said, "the rule of the law is everywhere. There is no legal concept of a no-entry zone. No one is more powerful than the government."

Asked about Chhatradhar Mahato, leader of the People's Committee Against Police Atrocities spearheading the agitation since November last year, Kumar said he would be arrested.Firefights with the Maoists occurred at two places between Pirakata and Bhimpur and near Pingboni last night with the villagers fleeing to safety, police said.The Maoists fired on the Lalgarh police station, with the securitymen there firing back.