In the wake of continuing political clashes and violence in West Bengal ahead of the July 8 panchayat polls, Governor C.V. Ananda Bose has decided to visit the different trouble-prone areas of the state.
On Friday, the Governor had visited Bhangar in South 24 Parganas, which turned into a battlefield for major part of the week following clashes between Trinamool Congress and All India Secular Front (AISF) supporters over filing of nominations for the panchayat elections.
Now that the nomination process is over and the tension has trickled into the scrutiny period that started on Saturday, the Governor has decided to cancel all his appointments outside West Bengal and instead visit the troubled spots in the state.
On Saturday evening, Bose will be going to Canning in South Parganas district, which also witnessed violent clashes during the nomination filing period between two factions of Trinamool. Source said that in the coming days, the Governor is likely to visit the other troubled pockets of the state.
On Saturday, the Governor also summoned State Election Commissioner Rajiva Sinha to discuss the continuing violence in different parts of the state.
However, Sinha did not turn up and instead sent a communique to the Raj Bhavan that because of his schedule following the ongoing nomination process, he will not be able to attend the meeting.
Meanwhile, the leader of opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, has expressed apprehension that that the state government is planning to deploy 9,000 new recruits in the police force for panchayat poll duty by posting them hurriedly after wrapping up their training process within seven days.
Adhikari tweeted, “The government intends to deploy them during the panchayat elections. Their training programme is being curtailed and they would be posted in a hasty manner, in order to lower the shortfall of police personnel required during the elections.
“I have written to Home Secretary B.P. Gopalika, apprising him how this move would be in violation of the act, rules and norms of police training. Not only will it be unlawful, it would also prove to be disastrous in future with untrained police personnel being tasked to maintain law and order.”
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