Mamata orders crackdown on Birbhum bomb factories

In a stern warning, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday instructed the police to step up vigilance and check bomb manufacturing, particularly, in sensitive areas of Birbhum district, where crude bomb-making related explosions have occurred.

"Please pay attention. No bomb manufacturing will be allowed. Recover whatever arms are there," Banerjee told the police here at an administrative review meeting on Monday.

Last month, nine persons were killed in crude bomb explosions following clashes between two groups in Labpur. The Chief Minister also asserted that no hooliganism will be allowed. She also issued a warning to Kajal Sheikh in this regard and asked him to give up violence or face arrest.

"No hooliganism will be allowed nor will we allow anyone to wrest control of an area by muscle power, by sword wielding," said Banerjee in an apparent reference to the Ram Navami rallies held by RSS-backed outfits where participants were seen brandishing swords. She mentioned Nanur and Parui as being "sensitive" areas.

She further added: "The whole district has been converted into an illegal arms factory. We will have to find out who are funding these factories and then take stringent action against them. From where so many guns, bullets and bombs are coming into the district is also a matter of concern. We cannot sit idle and police will have to unearth them and take strict action against those behind such illegal activities." The Chief Minister added: "I have information that arms are coming to the state from Munger and also from other states. Criminals are coming from Delhi and Munger. We will have to intensify vigil and restore peace in the district."

Banerjee also instructed police officers to pull up their socks and intensify vigil. "Police should not sit idle, and leave no stone unturned to identify those who are trying to create trouble. Peace will have to be restored at any cost and no criminals will be spared," she maintained.

Replying to a question by a student over the inordinate delay in punishing those who had stolen Rabindranath Tagore's Nobel, she said: "Though CID had taken up the matter and is conducting an investigation, the CBI has not yet handed over the papers related to the case to CID."

The Chief Minister said the state government would provide Rs 2.5 crore to each district to improve traffic infrastructure. She once again urged senior police officers to bring down road accidents by enforcing the guidelines given under "Safe drive save life" scheme.

Banerjee on Monday laid the foundation of the Rampurhat Medical College and Hospital. "The construction of the proposed hospital will begin shortly and once completed, locals will get every kind of treatment free of cost," she said. She said in the past six years, despite financial constraints, the state government has made healthcare facilities free in the state. "Costly treatment is being offered in state-run hospitals free of cost. The institutional delivery has gone up and child mortality has come down in the state over the past six years."