Chidambaram in Lalgarh to review anti-Naxal operation

A helicopter carrying the minister, West Bengal Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen and Director General of Police Bhupinder Singh touched down at the heavily guarded helipad next to the Lalgarh police station here at 8:00 am. Chidamabaram was received by District Magistrate N S Nigam, Superintendent of Police Manoj Verma and senior CRPF officials at the helipad.

The minister then drove to the nearby Lalgarh police station which was liberated by central para-military forces and the police from the clutches of the Maoists on June 20 last year, a day after the anti-Naxal operation was launched in the district. Chidamabaram, who took off from the Race Course grounds in Kolkata at around 7:00 am, reached Lalgarh an hour later.

From the Lalgarh police station, he will go to a CRPF camp and a primary health centre. Maoists yesterday exploded a powerful landmine targeting CRPF personnel in West Midnapore district on the eve of Chidamabaram's visit to Lalgarh.

The Maoist-backed tribal group People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) has also called for a 24-hour bandh today in West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia districts to protest the Home Minister's visit. Chidambaram last night met West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in Kolkata and was understood to have reviewed the situation in Maoist-hit areas where the joint operations have achieved success in last few days as also the future strategy to tackle the Maoist menace.