Agitators uproot small car fencing poles

Singur, Feb 7 (UNI) Singur continued to be on boil today with police firing teargas shells to disperse agitators who entered the fenced off area for the Tatas' small car project and uprooted about 80 posts.

Sub-Divisional Police Officer Kalyan Mukherjee told UNI that the incident occurred when 150 members of Krishi Jami Raksha Committee, led by the Trinamool Congress, gathered at Bajemelia village, breaking prohibitory orders under Section 144 Cr PC, and went on a rampage at Bajemelia village in the morning.

''They uprooted about 80 fencing posts and tore some cement bags which were lying there to be used for the ongoing construction work,'' he said.

The policemen, camping nearby, first chased the agitators, and then fired 14 rounds of teargas shells.

However, no arrests had so far been made in this connection, Mr Mukherjee said.

The administration reimposed the prohibitory orders in Singur on February 4 following violence over an agitational programme of the Krishi Jami Raksha Committee, including the Trinamool Congress, Naxalites and SUCI.

Protestors belonging to Krishi Jami Raksha Committee made similar attacks on the past three successive days, taking the police by surprise even as work for erecting boundary wall and construction of internal roads continued inside the fenced off area.

Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee has announced that she would defy the prohibitory orders and go ahead with her 'Singur chalo' programme on February 10 as a mark of protest against police 'atrocities' and the state government's 'adamant' attitude in pushing through the small car project.

Meanwhile, Jaiat-E-Ulema-I-Hind, which recently joined the anti- land acquisition stir, held a meeting beside the Durgapur Expressway, ten km off Singur today after beind denied entry to Singur.

A huge police force was deployed in the area to pre-empt any untoward incident.

UNI