Bhattacharjee reviews Maoist threat in Bengal

Kolkata, Mar 5 (UNI) West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today reviewed the situation in the Maoist-dominated areas of the state after a high alert was sounded in West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura districts following the murder of two CPI(M) activists over the past 48 hours.

'' The Government is alert. We are taking necessary steps,'' the Chief Minister told reporters.

Mr Bhattacharjee reviewed the situation at a meeting with Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Ray and Director General of Police Subhash Chandra Awasthi at the Writers' Building and directed them to mount vigil in the affected areas.

Earleir, Kartik Singh, a local CPI(M) leader, was shot dead at Lalgarh in West Midnapore district and party worker Madan Tudu was hacked to death at Barikul in Bankura district.

Last week, the Maoists triggered a landmine blast at Bandwan in Purulia district killing five policemen.

Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia said the Director General of Police would leave for West Midnapore tomorrow to take stock of the situation.

Stating that a ''battle scenario'' was prevailing in the affected areas, he admitted that it was impossible to keep a vigil on underground Maoists carrying out attacks against the police and CPI(M) leaders and workers.

However, Mr Kanojia denied that intelligence failure was the reason behind the depredations and said the police were trying to identify the culprits and efforts were also being made to build up confidence among the local people.

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