WB Guv outraged by Nandigram Firing

Kolkata, Mar 14 (UNI) West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi today expressed 'anguish' and 'outrage' at the spilling of blood in Nandigram and questioned the use of force that led to the tragedy.

''The news of deaths by police firing in Nandigram this morning has filled me with a sense of cold horror. We will soon know more details of the sequence of events that led to this tragedy. But the point uppermost in my mind is not who started it, who provoked it'' or whether there were agent provocateurs behind it, he said.

''Investigations will reveal that the thought in my mind--and of all sensitive people now is--''Was this spilling of human blood not avoidable? What is the public purpose served by the use of force that we have witnessed today?'' he said.

Force against anti-national elements, terrorists, extremists, insurgents, was one thing. The receiving end of the force used today DiD not belong to that order, he added.

''What I advised the Government over the last two days, as I received inputs of rising tension in Nandigram, it knows. It is not my intention to enter into blame-fixing,'' Mr Gandhi said, making it amply clear that he had warned of such a tension.

''But I cannot be so casual to the oath I have taken as to restrict my reaction to a pious expression of anguish and outrage. I trust the Government will not only go into the whys and wherefores of this tragic occurrence but will also ensure that it leaves no room for a repetition of the kind of trauma witnessed today,'' he said in a release.

''I leave it to the conscience of officials responsible to atone for the event in the manner they deem fit. But I also expect the Government to do what it thinks is necessary to mitigate the effects of this bitter March 14, and to do it visibley and fast,'' he said.

At least 14 people were killed and 50 injured when villagers fought with police in a major flare-up in Nandigram of East Midnapore district today while resisting the law keepers from entering the embattled area.

While 13 people, including a woman, were killed in police firing, a villager died after a bomb he was about to hurl, burst in his hands, official sources said. Of the injured, 14 were policemen.

UNI