‘Bihar cops’ raze Malda huts with bulldozers

MALDA: West Bengal police on Saturday began investigations into allegations that a Bihar police team had crossed the state border late on Friday and demolished around 20 homes in Malda’s Harishchandrapur with bulldozers. Bihar police, however, said they were not aware of the claims and would probe the matter.
Sadlichak, at the Bengal-Bihar border of Harishchandrapur-2 block, has been inhabited by 20-odd families for over 50 years now. The villagers, who are poor farmers and labourers and do not have ownership papers for the land they hold, said a local strongman, Ganesh Pramanik, had been trying to get a toehold in the area for some time.
They claimed Pramanik frequented Bihar, and it was at his instigation that Bihar police demolished their huts with JCB machines. The locals alleged that police assaulted anyone who protested the razing. Atanu Das, whose house was destroyed, said: “The police wouldn’t listen to anything we said.”
The incident drew widespread condemnation from political parties, with both local Trinamool leader Jambu Rehman and BJP MP Khagen Murmu strongly criticising the police action.
Malda police superintendent Pradeep Kumar Yadav said: “Bihar police, without informing Bengal police, conducted the operation on the pretext of eviction. But the land, despite being very close to the Bihar border, belongs to Bengal. I have asked the land department for records. We will take further steps once we get that report.”