Villagers, on Monday, pulled down a portion of the boundary wall around the plot on which the proposed Biswa Bangla University will come up at Shibpur in Birbhum. The villagers demanded setting up of factories on the land that was procured mainly for industrialisation.
The situation turned hostile for the employees working to construct the boundary wall. They found some villagers approaching and asking them to stop their work. Apprehending attack, the workers left the place and the villagers initiated the rampage.
The villagers damaged a portion of the wall with tree trunks. They burnt tyres and threw it inside the pot. Senior police officers went to the spot and brought the situation under control. They told the police that they want the land back as no factory has been set up here till date.
Setting up of the university is one of the dream projects of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. She went to the spot along with the state urban development minister Firhad Hakim to inspect the progress of the work.
On Monday, Hakim said in this connection, "There are some opponents of ours whose main work is to create trouble. But nothing can stop the development work that is going on in Bengal under the leadership of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee."
According to the sources in the Intelligence Bureau (IB), villagers in Birbhum's Shibpur have been instigated to build up a protest. The tactics is quite similar to that of the recent unrest at Bhangar in South 24-Parganas over setting up of power grid sub-station.
It is being suspected by the IB officers that the main purpose behind creating such trouble is to stall the ongoing development in Bengal.
Trouble is being created at places where the state government is taking up any development projects.