Chidambaram touches a chord with Naxal infested Lalgarh

He came, he spoke and touched a chord with the locals worn out in the struggle between the security forces and the Naxals.

Lalgarh (West Bengal): He came, he spoke
and touched a chord with the locals worn out in the struggle
between the security forces and the Naxals.

Interacting with the people of Lalgarh, P Chidambaram,
the first Union Minister to visit this Maoist hotbed after the
launch of anti-naxal operations in June last year, asked the
mother of an infant who was born just a few hours before his
arrival at a public health centre here if she had thought of
any name for the baby.

The crowd said "Chidambaram" in union and broke into
peals of laughter, making it clear that the minister had
struck an instant chord with the locals.

The Home Minister asked the residents, caught in the
midst of anti-naxal operations, about their problems and sat
patiently as they narrated their plight.

As the Minister clad in his signature white attire
spoke for 15 minutes with the audience sitting in rapt
attention, an elderly lady with a handheld bamboo fan started
fanning him to relieve him of the sweating in the hot and
humid weather in the area.

Earlier, Chidambaram went straight to the local police
station after landing and met the Station House Officer and
other officials there.

After taking details of the situation prevailing in
the area, he took to the narrow bylanes of the village
where curious locals had already gathered after hearing the
news of arrival of the high-profile visitor.

Though he spoke in English, Chidambaram interacted
with the locals with the help district administration
officials.

Villagers told him that they were sandwiched between
police and Naxals and complained to him about the lack of
development in the area especially the absence of basic
facilties like health, road, employment and school.

He asked them the reasons for supporting the Naxals to
which they said some of them do support them because they were
scared of the extremists.

The villagers complained that police officials were
also exploiting them. They claimed that people were randomly
picked up by police on charges of being Naxal sympathisers.

The Home Minister met the doctors, staff and even had a
look at the medicines in the inventory and checked their
expiry dates. Chidambaram asked the staff about the problems
they were facing because of the ongoing battle between
security forces and naxals.

The Home Minister later chaired a meeting of District
Board where, in very unequivocal terms, he made it clear that
development efforts are not being translated on the ground.

He apprised them of his observations made during
detailed discussion with vilagers, police, health officials
and raised issues about the lack of development in the area
which has helped Maoists to win sympathy of the locals.

Before he reached Midanapore, the central security
agencies had advised him not to fly over the forest areas
which are the hotbed of Maoists in the region but Chidambaram
insisted on making a survey of the area and made a detailed
aerial tour of the forest area.

The Home Minister also went to the CRPF camp in the
region, spoke to jawans and officials and took stock of
the situation prevailing on the ground.

PTI

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