KALIMPONG NEWS with inputs from PTI: GJMM has called 12 hrs. strike on 19th February in protest against the failure of West Bengal Government in giving protection to the EFR Jawans.13 of the fallen heroes of EFR jawans killed in yesterday's Maoist attack on the EFR camp here at Shilda in West Midnapore district are from Darjeeling district, two from Jalpaiguri disitrict and the rest from Assam, Nepal and Saloa at Kharagpur in West Midnapore district.
The 13 jawans from Darjeeling district are riflemen Pem Tshering Bhutia (40, Paiyun, Kalimpong), Mikmar Tamang (42, Nagari Farm), Ajay Thapa (47, Durga Mandir, Kadamtala), Suresh Rai (60, Thurbu), Monal Chhetri (46, Pusimbong) and constables Nimtey Sherpa (46, Upper Reling), Biman Rai (48, Chhota Pubong, Jorebunglow), Prem Thering Lepcha (44, Lower Sindebong, Kalimpong), Daulat Rai (46,Tindharey), Shanti Kumar Rai (Upper Fagu, Gorubathan), Damber Chhetri (44, East Main Road, Kalimpong), Pradip Pradhan (Selimbong) and Madhukar Subba (45, Pubung, Kalimpong).
The rest are riflemen Jiwan Chhetri, Arjun Thakuri and Kantishwar Basumatari from Nepal, Arinda Rava, Bonin Daimari from Assam, Chandra Chhetri (Subhas Uttarayan Palli, Jalpaiguri) and Gopal Krishna Chhetri (Sukhani, Nagarkatta) from Jalpaiguri and Havildars Bihan Kachari, Suraj Bahadur Thapa (
47
)
Gagan Pradhan (43)
and Ram Bahadur Thapa (cook) from Salua in West Midnapore.
Of the 24 jawans killed, 10 were from second battalion and 14 were from the third battalion.
Three - Bishnu Singh Chhetri and Lal Bahadur Pradhan of second battalion and Binod Pradhan from third battalion - are admitted to Jhargram sub-divisional hospital with injuries.
Govt. has announced 15 lakh to the dependent family members of each deceased EFR jawans, salaries till the late jawans retirement age and service to the dependents.
Midnapore, Feb 16 (PTI): About 300-400 women, including relatives of the deceased EFR jawans and their surviving colleagues, today demonstrated at Salua camp of the EFR battalion near Kharagpur, blaming the state government for failure to provide security to the 24 jawans who fell to Maoist bullets.
The demonstration took place shortly after the arrival of five West Bengal ministers, led by Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta, to accord gunsalute to the deceased jawans at the Salua camp tonight before the bodies would be handed over to the relatives for last rites.
The demonstrators slammed the state police administration for its "total failure" to provide security to the EFR jawans and alleged that the personnel were not adequately trained to face ultras "and were forcibly pushed to face danger."
State's Civil Defence minister Srikumar Mukhkerjee said that the demonstration was natural and money could not compensate for the loss of precious lives.
Line of Coffins awaits hill-Shock , disbelief and the final blow
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| Chandra Chhetri’s 75-year-old mother at her house in Jalpaiguri, unaware of his death. (Biplab Basak) |
Vivek Chhetri & Avijit Sinha, TT, Feb. 16: The Darjeeling hills are getting ready to welcome home 13 of its warriors, or rather, their remains packed in wooden caskets — the maximum number of coffins in recent memory to make their way up on a single day.
The bodies are expected tomorrow, two days after the policemen were killed in a Maoist raid in West Midnapore.
The strike was powerful enough to kill 24 cops of the Eastern Frontier Rifles, 19 from the predominant hill communities. Thirteen of the 19 were residents of the hills itself while the rest lived in Jalpaiguri and West Midnapore.
Most of the families — except perhaps for the relatives of Chandra Chhetri — who came to know about the deaths were unwilling to believe it at first, until formal confirmations came through the local police stations at 4pm.
Chandra, 37, was talking to his wife Hema over the mobile phone when the camp in Silda was attacked. “He was talking casually but suddenly his voice changed, Abruptly, he told her to take care of the two children and the line got disconnected. Even after repeated attempts his wife Hema could not contact him. She felt something was wrong,” said Ganesh, Chandra’s elder brother and a police driver, at their house at Subhas Unnayan Pally in Jalpaiguri town.
The couple have two children, 11-year-old Pratibha and six-year-old Kunal, who along with Chandra’s 75-year-old mother Kharkakumari, have not yet been told about the tragedy.
Surya, another brother of Chandra, had a message for the Maoists. “Those who died were government employees discharging their duties. They did not go to attack the Maoists but were at the camp. Why was the attack organised on them which ruined 24 families?”
At Selimbong tea garden, 40km from Darjeeling town, Gita Pradhan, wife of rifleman Pradip Pradhan, 45, had been praying throughout the morning so that her worst fears did not come true.
“His friends had called me up in the morning but I did not want to believe them. My husband had last visited us during Diwali and had spoken to me six days back. I just cannot believe he is no more,” mumbled Gita.
Pradip’s eldest son, Gagan, is a first-year student at Ghoom-Jorebunglow Degree College. “We did not sleep last night. We heard Pradip was missing in action on the cable network last evening and even though his friends called up in the morning, none of us believed them. He was a very warm friend,” said Binod Maskey, a neighbour.
Pradip is survived by his wife, three sons and daughter, Roshini.
Across the hill at Nagri Farm tea estate, 7km from Selimbong, the scene was no different.
Mourning villagers gathered around the wooden house of Mikmar Tamang, 41, who had joined the force in 1992. “Our life has come to a complete halt in a single evening,” said wife Gita. Mikmar’s daughters Palmu and Wangmu and son Puran, all school-going children, could hardly speak.
Mikmar’s death was confirmed when one of their relatives called up the EFR officers early this morning.
However, unlike the others, Ajay Thapa, a resident of Durgamandir in Kadamtala, 10km from Siliguri, had taken his family with him to Salua in West Midnapore where the EFR is headquartered.
The deaths in the hills are likely to stoke the fire of the Gorkhaland movement as those spearheading the agitation have been saying that the only way the Centre can do justice to Gorkhas sacrificing their lives for the country is by giving them a separate state.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, which has been leading the movement, has appealed to people in the hills to close shops and clear the routes to “welcome home the warriors”. Morcha central committee member Amar Lama said the bodies would be kept at Darjeeling Motor Stand, Kalimpong Mela grounds and Kurseong railway station for people to come and pay their homage to the departed.
Safe, feigning to be dead
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Naresh Jana, TT, Shilda, Feb. 16: Two of the three injured Eastern Frontier Rifles personnel now in a Jhargram hospital escaped being killed yesterday because they lay still and the attackers took them for dead.
Vinod Pradhan, 45, had gone to the tent housing the camp’s kitchen around 5pm for some food before going out on night patrol.
“Dambar (Chhetri) was supposed to come with me. But he was chatting to Gopal (Chhetri), who was on sentry duty, and asked me to go ahead,” said Vinod, from Kurseong.
However, the chapatis were not ready and he waited. “Five minutes later, I heard an explosion and then the rat-a-tat of automatic fire. I rushed out of the kitchen to find petrol bombs and grenades being hurled inside the compound. I headed to my tent to get my rifle. I ducked as I ran and saw a tent on the far-end go up in flames,” said Vinod.
Entering his tent, Vinod found Dambar lying dead on his face, clutching his bullet-proof jacket. Vinod grabbed his Insas rifle and rushed out when either a bullet or a splinter tore through the flesh of his right arm. “I fell with my rifle under me. I was drowned by the sound of firing and explosions. There were cries of pain and I realised that my colleagues were getting hit. Many tents were on fire and the area slowly lit up in a bright red glow. Guerrillas rushed into our tent and they stamped over me to pull the trunks and suitcases out into the compound. I lay still,” Vinod said.
After about 35 minutes, silence fell and he gathered enough courage to stand up. Vinod thought he was the only one alive. He scampered towards the edge of the compound, scaled a wall and hid himself on the other side. “After about 20 more minutes, I heard someone groaning in pain. I peeped over the wall and saw Lalbahadur. I climbed back into the compound and went to the kitchen, which was untouched by the fire. I brought water for Lalbahadur. Then I saw Bishnu Chhetri, trying to sit up beside a burning tent.”
Bishnu, 42, a resident of Salua, said from his hospital bed that he was chatting in his tent with colleagues when he heard the staccato burst of gunfire.“They were coming in hordes and firing all the time. Suraj (Bahadur Thapa) and Bihan (Kachari), who were with me, were riddled with bullets. Then I felt as if a burning coal has been pressed against my right leg. I fell and lay still,” said Bishnu. “When the tent beside me caught fire, I tried to sit up and found Vinod helping me,” he added.
Torn flesh was strewn around the camp compound this morning. Police teams were scanning the place for bodies, and bombs which the Maoists could have left behind.
Strike plan to last T- Job made easy by lounging policemen
Pronab Mondal, TT, Shilda, Feb. 16: A whistle and two claps. That was the signal for the Maoists to begin their attack on the Shilda camp last evening.
Immediately after this, the combined Belpahari and East Singhbhum squads of the Maoists set off the first explosion, followed by many more and then heavy firing which, about 45 minutes later, ended with 24 Eastern Frontier Rifles personnel lying dead.
It was an attack that had been planned immediately after Union home minister P. Chidambaram’s meeting at Writers’ Buildings where it was decided that Bengal would launch joint operations with Jharkhand and Orissa.
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“The task was entrusted to the Belpahari and East Singhbhum squads and we carried out our joint attack with perfect understanding,” Maoist military wing chief Kishan said today.
The first task of the Maoists was to scrutinise the daily activities of the policemen. That was not difficult as they easily mingled with villagers in the crowded marketplace and made good use of the camp’s toilet, which the public had access to, to spy on the EFR personnel.
And what they saw pleasantly surprised them: once inside the camp, the policemen were a relaxed lot, dumping their weapons in their tents and lounging all over the place.
“They observed every lapse on the part of EFR personnel at the camp and worked out their strategy accordingly,” said an officer of the district intelligence branch.
“It is a shame that we all were in the dark about it.”
State police chief Bhupinder Singh admitted the same. “We had no clue about the attack or any suspicious movement of Maoists around the camp,” he said.
According to sources, the Maoists reached the camp from two ends — Jhargram and Belpahari. “Two pick-up vans with 30 guerrillas moved towards the camp from Jhargram, along the state highway connecting the town with Bandwan in Purulia, and a convoy of six motorcycles proceeded from Belpahari. Both the groups reached camp at the same time,” a source said.
The squad that came via Jhargram was apparently the one from East Singhbhum in Jharkhand.
None of them was carrying arms. They were hidden in the pick-ups. Since they were unarmed, they quickly mingled with the local crowd. Also, some of the women guerrillas broke up into pairs with the men in the squads and strolled near a lodge in the bazaar often used by couples from nearby places for a few hours for romantic trysts. No one suspected them of being Maoists.
Then, of course, at the signal at five in the evening, the attack began.
When the resistance from the police was weakening, the Maoists drove into the camp with their pick-ups and motorcycles and completed the rampage. Police chief Singh said 40 rifles were looted and the amount of ammunition taken was still being tabulated.
After the attack, the Maoists did not branch off. Instead, they all sped off towards the Jharkhand border, only 10km away. Before crossing into Jharkhand, they burnt the two pick-ups at the edge of the Kushboni forest and disappeared into the wilderness.
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