PC's anti-Naxal meeting riddled with obstacles

Kolkata: Union home minister P Chidambaram's meeting with the chief ministers of four states -- West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa -- received a few jolts even before it started.

The meeting has been delayed after Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's flight was cancelled due to poor weather conditions on Tuesday morning. However, there have been bigger impediments.

While Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is reportedly staying away from the meeting, Jharkhand Deputy Chief Minister Raghuvar Das said the state Chief Minister Shibu Soren's was not well and would be missing the meeting.

"(Deputy Chief Minister) Sudesh Mahto and myself will represent Guruji, who is indisposed," Das said.

Two days ahead of the meeting, the Maoists slapped a 72-hour bandh in forest areas across four states as if to send out a message to the home minister. There have been at least three attacks by Maoists in the Naxal-infested states of Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand in the last three days. On Tuesday morning, the Maoists blew up a rail track and a school in Jharkhand.

"It is not possible to counter the Maoists single-handedly when they use forest corridors in Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.

Our presentation to Chidambaram will talk about the ground reality and identify areas where we could make some headway and where we couldn't," Chief Secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti told the media on Monday.

At the meeting, "we will suggest strong infrastructure development to deal with extremism," Das said.

Adding to the woes of West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee, industrialist Sajjan Jindal told him on Monday that the steel project in Salboni cannot materialise unless the state provided security to his men.

The incident is likely to put more pressure on Bhattacharjee, who will be asked to explain at the meeting why the joint forces could not achieve much in last eight months.

In reply, it is expected that Bhattacharjee would harp on the police success in seizing Maoist leader Koteswar Rao alias Kishanji's laptop.

On Monday, the West Bengal police arrested Kishanji aide Prasanta Mahato and action squad member Buddhadeswar Mahato from the forest areas though Kishanji gave the police the slip yet again.

According to sources, Chidambaram is expected to seek a consensus on a joint operation at Tuesday's meeting whereas West Bengal will ask for funds from the Centre to raise a sophisticated force to combat the Maoists.

Meanwhile, a group of intellectuals and human rights activists will be taking out a procession in Kolkata on Tuesday in protest against the state and Centre's decision to launch operation against the Maoists.

They will also sit in a daylong dharna in central Kolkata to demand immediate withdrawal of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Writer and social activist Mahasweta Devi, human right activist Sujato Bhadro among others are expected to take part in the protest gatherings.