One more held over power grid protests

Police have arrested one more person for creating trouble over setting up a power grid at Bhangar.

On Thursday morning, police arrested one Sunil Pal, a CPI(ML) Redstar leader from Machibhanga village of South 24 Parganas. The accused, a resident of Nimta police station area in North 24 Parganas was actively involved in the agitation which was organised against the construction of a power grid in the area. Including this arrest, the police have so far arrested 23 persons who were involved in the protest movement. Police are also interrogating the accused to know if there were other persons involved in instigating the villagers on the issue.

It was alleged that Sunil Pal used to give the protestors arms training. Police had not entered the troubled area for quite some time. On Thursday, the accused was arrested when he came out of the area. The Bhangar movement turned ugly when local villagers started protesting the setting up of a power grid in the area. The locals put up roadblocks protesting the construction of a power grid sub-station in Bhangar. The protests started in January this year. The villagers torched police vehicles and some miscreants also pelted bombs at the villagers and thrashed some of them.

Senior officials of the state government who reached the spot tried to convince local villagers of the importance of setting up a power grid in the area but the locals seemed unmoved and the officials' efforts proved to be futile. Every time the police and district administration reached the spot to resolve the issue, hundreds of people, mainly women, came out of their homes to block the movement of vehicles on important thoroughfares.