Police open fire as violence erupts in Bhatpara once again

Kolkata, 15 July (HS):The police had to fire five rounds in the air to ward off two warring groups at Bhatpara-Kankinara industrial township of North 24 Parganas district today after large scale violence broke out in the area in which bombs were used freely, though none was injured.

According to the police,after a few days lull a number of local miscreants and alleged criminals, belonged to different groups attacked one another with bombs and other missiles in broad day light scaring local people who ran helter skelter in panic.

While all nearby shops and business establishments in the violent ridden market area downed the shutters out of fear,all vehicles also went off the roads to give the area a deserted look in a full working day today.

On being informed a large contingent of police rushed to the spot from both Bhatpara and Kankinara police stations and temporarily chased away the warring groups.

But as soon as they left, both the groups once again came back and  attacked one another with renewed vigour. Both the groups also lobbed and burst a number of powerful bombs against the members of the rival groups, though none was injured in such violent attacks.

But when mere lathi charge and bursting of several rounds of tear gas shells by the police did not have any effect on the miscreants, they opened fire in the air to scare the criminals forcing them to retreat and leaver the area.

As a large police camp was posted in the market area of the dual town,there was no report of further violence from either Bhatpara  or Kankinara since then, the police said and added that soon a house to house search was launched to nab the miscreants and recover unlicensed arms, ammunition and  live bombs from the localities which since the Lok Sabha elections in May have become a hot spot of political rivalry claiming several lives and injuring many others.

It may be recalled after BJP candidate Arjun Singh has clinched the Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat from Trinamool Congress Candidate and former Railway minister Dinesh Trivedi by a considerable margin  in the Lok Sabha elections in May, large scale violence and classes between the rival party supports has become an almost daily affair in the  adjacent industrial townships of Bhatpra, Kankinara and Jagaddal areas ( under Barrackpore constituency) in North 24 Parganas district.

Though the leaders of both TMC and BJP including Chief minister Mamata Banerjee and local MP Arjun Singh and others blamed one another for the violence, they have also made repeated appeal to everybody to  shun violence and restore peace in the areas. But their appeals have so far fallen into deaf ears leading to more violence almost  on daily basis.

‘We are not used to such a situation in our locality for the past so many years and do not know who are responsible for such unabated violence in which several innocent lives have already been lost and many others injured’, a resident of Bhatpara and local businessman Samik Roy, who has been suffering huge financial losses for the past two months because of loss of business due to violence, told Hindusthan Samachar this afternoon.