Citizens’ Research Collective on SEZ

Nandigram, November 16, 2007 (IANS): A two-member team of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Friday visited the relief camps in Nandigram to interact with those affected by the last week’s violence in the East Midnapore district.

The team went round BMT Shikshaniketan, the school building where ousted villagers have taken shelter, and also visited the community kitchen, which the Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) members have started to serve the homeless villagers.

”The officials came to the school premises and talked to hundreds of women and children who were allegedly tortured and assaulted by CPI-M (Communist Party of India-Marxist) activists during the capture of Nandigram,” BUPC member Shiekh Asraf Ali said.

He said the NHRC members also held a closed-door meeting with BUPC members to get an idea about the present situation in Nandigram, 150 km from Kolkata.

The six-member NHRC team had arrived Thursday to monitor the situation after last week’s violence and to suggest remedial measures.

The team held a meeting with the East Midnapore Superintendent of Police SS Panda.

It is looking into the role of police and the local administration to ascertain whether there had been any lapse on their part.

Violence in Nandigram has claimed 34 lives since January, when the region flared up over proposed land acquisition for a special economic zone (SEZ). The state government later scrapped the plan in the face of stiff resistance from the villagers.

Since then a turf battle between the CPI-M and the BUPC-backed by Trinamool Congress-has broken out, with heavily armed CPI-M supporters the aggressor and apparent victor in the latest round.

Meanwhile, a Trinamool Congress team led by party leader Partha Chattopadhyay visited violence-hit areas in Nandigram and interacted with villagers who were driven out of their homes allegedly by CPI-M activists.

Source: NDTv.com