Sprint after CM car for water

TT, Jalpaiguri/ Cooch Behar: A sexagenarian got closer to the chief minister's car as her cavalcade passed through Jalpaiguri's outskirts on Tuesday noon and handed over a letter to Mamata Banerjee's security guard.

Rajen Roy, a 63-year-old resident of Paharpur near Jalpaiguri, could hand over the letter seeking a solution to the drinking water problem in his locality to a security man in Mamata's car.

Roy jumped into NH31D near Gosala More when the convoy was heading towards the Teesta bridge. Clad in a white kurta, Roy started running along the cavalcade to reach near the chief minister's car, which had moved around 200m.

Huffing and puffing, Roy managed to get close to the car and handed over the letter to the security man who was in the rear seat of the vehicle.

"The entire incident happened within a minute or so. Policemen and civic volunteers posted along the highway to prevent people getting on the road were perplexed. Some of them later expressed anguish over Roy's act," said an eyewitness.

Roy, a farmer, said: "There is no proper drinking water facility at our village. The panchayat has tried to help us with a well but water is of inferior quality. That is why I thought of handing over a letter to the chief minister, requesting her to resolve the issue," he said, adding that he was a Trinamul supporter.

Later in the day, a youth tried to approach Mamata's convoy which was moving through Changrabandha in Cooch Behar.

The chief minister was leaving for Siliguri when Ataur Rehman, a local resident, moved close to the convoy. He was on a bicycle and policemen posted on duty on the road intercepted him and allegedly slapped him.

This prompted a section of local people to protest and they did not let the policemen leave the spot. Later, senior police officers intervened and brought the situation under control.