‘Be alert against terrorists’: Mamata Banerjee cautions police 

Kolkata, May 21 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Wednesday, directed the state police to be on high alert to prevent possible events of cross-border terrorists taking shelter in the villages that are close to international borders.

West Bengal has international borders with three foreign nations, namely Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan.

“People from outside are coming indiscriminately, and they are collecting information about AADHAR and EPIC cards of local residents. This happened with many who are associated with our party. So you have to be alert so that terrorists coming from across the borders cannot take shelter here. You will also have to be careful so that you do not get trapped and hand over your identity documents to anyone,” the Chief Minister said while addressing an administrative review meeting at Siliguri of Darjeeling district, located in the northern sector of West Bengal.

She also said that there had been instances at places like Jhargram, Malda, Cooch Behar and Diamond Harbour among others where miscreants have duped local people and taken away their identity documents.

“Police have taken necessary actions in such cases. But common people will also have to be careful so that identity documents are not handed over without cross-checking the authenticity of the persons on the other side,” the Chief Minister said.

She also directed the police forces to conduct regular patrolling at the respective places under their jurisdiction, especially at the sensitive pockets.

“The more the patrolling is done, the more people will feel relieved, realising that the police are on alert,” the Chief Minister said.

Stating that the international borders in North Bengal are sensitive, the Chief Minister alerted that the police stations in the bordering villages should not relax, thinking that the Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are there at the borders.

She also directed the police to involve the local clubs for better surveillance purposes.

The Chief Minister further accused the Union government of discriminating against West Bengal in granting flood relief funds.

“South Bengal gets floods because of excessive rainfall in neighbouring Jharkhand, and North Bengal gets flooded because of rainfall in Sikkim. West Bengal is also affected because of the release of water from the barrages in Bhutan. Funny thing is that Assam gets central funds for flood relief. But West Bengal is deprived of that,” the Chief Minister said.