'Coordination between North & South Dinajpur a must'

Raigunj (North Dinajpur): Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday stressed on community policing and instructed senior officers to coordinate with the adjacent South Dinajpur district for better running of the administration.

She held the administrative review meeting of North and South Dinajpur districts here. The Chief Minister reprimanded the superintendent of police and the circle inspector of Kushmandi police station for the inordinate delay in sending the girl who was allegedly gang-raped, to the hospital.

Banerjee went to Malda Medical College and Hospital on Tuesday, where the victim is undergoing treatment. The state government has already given Rs 4 lakh to the victim and at the public meeting held in Gangarampur in South Dinajpur on Wednesday afternoon, Banerjee announced that the state government will look after her.

On February 17, the victim was allegedly gang-raped at the Dehabandh area under Kushmandi police station. The accused had left her to die in a pool of blood.

On Sunday afternoon, local people spotted her and informed the police. She was admitted to Malda Medical College and Hospital, where she is receiving treatment.

Pulling up Shyamal Biswas, circle inspector of Kushmandi police station, the Chief Minister said it is most unfortunate that the police did not get any information and the girl lay unconscious for 18 hours.

"Don't you keep track of the area under your jurisdiction and don't you go out for patrolling? You do patrolling only at night. This is most unfortunate. The state government has deployed civic volunteers. What were they doing," she asked, adding "I will not tolerate any such incident in future."

She asked Prasun Bandyopadhyay, superintendent of police, to keep an eye on the area where the tribals live. She said the coordination meeting among senior administrative officials of the two districts will ensure smooth functioning.

She asked him to take the social clubs and other organisations into confidence, to gather information and aiding administration.

She said the police officers and BDOs should coordinate and reiterated that even the slightest incidents should not be taken casually. "Do not ignore any incident. Even an apparently insignificant incident can become major," the Chief Minister said.

She asked the district officials to oversee functioning of the super-speciality hospitals and asked them to build contact with people.