West Bengal Govt. against indiscriminate use of UAPA

Kolkata, June 29 (ANI): West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has told his Cabinet colleagues that his government would not indiscriminately use the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, under which the Centre banned the Communist Party of India (Maoists).

PWD Minister Khiti Goswami has quoted Buddhadeb as saying at a meeting of the Cabinet Core Committee formed to tackle the Maoists problem in the state.

Goswami told media that the Chief Minister also informed the Committee that the joint forces operating against the Maoists in Lalgarh and its surrounding areas in West Midnapore District have been able to liberate nearly 95 percent of the areas under Maoists' control without bloodshed and any major encounters.

On Monday, security forces, however, took control of Katapahari in Lalgarh without much resistance from either the Maoists or the Peoples' Committee.

However, there was a landmine blast in the area and six landmines were detected during the operations of the joint forces of the West Bengal police and Central para-military forces. (ANI)