Date:15/11/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/11/15/stories/2007111561331600.htm

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Rs.1 crore for Nandigram rehabilitation:Buddhadeb

Special Correspondent

Now things are changing for the better, he says

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee

Kolkata: The process for the return of peace to Nandigram has resumed and “things are changing for the better,” West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said here on Wednesday.

The government will disburse Rs.1 crore from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for relief and rehabilitation to around 700 families, whose homes had been damaged fully or partially in the past 11 months of violence. Money would also be given to those returning from relief camps to purchase utensils, Mr. Bhattacharjee said.

While most of those who had fled their villages in the face of hostilities were back, between 400 and 500 people were still to return home. Steps were being taken to ensure that they returned by Thursday, he added.

“The sun is rising [over Nandigram] but it will take a while [for the people there] to feel its warmth,” the Chief Minister said. “There had been infiltration of outsiders but it must be ensured that none but the people of Nandigram stay on there,” he added.

A report on the situation in the area was being sent to the Centre, State Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Ray said.

There was no need for additional companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) for deployment in the area, Mr. Bhattacharjee said.

“The Prime Minister had wanted to know about the situation and I told him about the Central forces being sent to the area and that it is hoped that peace will now gradually return,” he said, referring to his telephonic talk with Mr. Manmohan Singh on Tuesday.

The five CRPF companies presently deployed there would be joined soon by an all-women company of the force to be based at the district headquarters.

These forces would be expected to “build confidence among the people there, fan into areas which had so long been inaccessible to the police and ensure resumption in administrative and panchayat work,” the Chief Minister added.

In reference to a remark he had made on Tuesday, describing the return of the CPI(M) workers to their homes at the risk of their lives as “our people,” Mr. Bhattacharjee said: “I am a Chief Minister and also a leader of the CPI(M) and not above the party. I cannot repudiate my political allegiance but, having been sworn in under the Constitution as Chief Minister, I am responsible to the office I hold too.”