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For 13th day, Bengal’s Jhargram remains ghost town
Petrol pumps are closed for 13 days, so are banks, post offices, ration shops and even courts. The streets are empty, except the thuds of CRPF jawans’ boots.
Petrol pumps are closed for 13 days, so are banks, post offices, ration shops and even courts. The streets are empty, except the thuds of CRPF jawans’ boots.
On December 18, the Maoist-backed People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) began a blockade in three districts of south Bengal — West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia.
The administration seemed to have vanished as the Maoists began their blockade in Jhargram, a sub-divisional town in West Midnapore district, about 160 km west of Kolkata.
The reason: More than 100 lives were lost in these areas since June 18, when the combined forces were pressed into service to restore law and order.
“Forget governance. Water and electric supply, the two services that carry any vestige of administration, have disappeared,” said Kajal Mahato, a lawyer in Jhargram.
“We are discussing the ways to bring normalcy,” said sub-divisional officer P. Ulaganathan. The doors and windows of his office, however, are all bolted. On Wednesday, three trucks were set ablaze by the peoples’ militia at Lodhashuli near Jhargram town on NH 6.
