Vulnerable tag for 170 booths in clash fear

AVIJIT SINHA, TT, Siliguri, Oct. 2: The possibility of political clashes and proximity to the borders of Nepal and Bangladesh have prompted the Darjeeling district administration to declare "vulnerable" over 170 booths and 300 villages during the three-tier elections of Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad tomorrow.

The highest number of vulnerable booths are in Phansidewa block which is close to the Bangladesh border. Kharibari block, near the Nepal boundary, has the highest number of sensitive or vulnerable villages.

Senior officials of the district administration today said they had selected the vulnerable booths based on several parameters and inputs.

"All four blocks (in the SMP area) have members of different communities and the blocks are located close to international borders. A number of prominent leaders also reside in the SMP area. We had sought reports from the four block development officers as well as police officers before selecting the vulnerable booths and hamlets," an official of the Darjeeling district administration said.

The data provided by the district officials show around 70 per cent of the booths in Kharibari block (62 booths out of 88 booths) have been marked vulnerable. This is followed by Phansidewa block, where 44 per cent booths (66 booths out of 149 booths) have been identified as sensitive.

In the other two blocks, Matigara and Naxalbari, 10 per cent and 21 per cent of the booths have been marked as vulnerable, respectively.

In a similar manner, around 62 per cent of the villages in Kharibari block (121 out of 195 villages) have been found to be sensitive. The percentages of sensitive villages in other three blocks is comparatively low. It is 26 per cent in Naxalbari, 22 per cent in Phansidewa and only seven per cent in Matigara block.

"We are apprehensive of tension and political clashes, mostly in the rural areas of Phansidewa and Kharibari. Although Matigara and Naxalbari blocks are officially rural areas, the 15km stretch between Siliguri and Bagdogra has witnessed rapid urbanisation. A sizeable portion of the voters in the two blocks are middle-class voters. Although a few areas have been marked as sensitive, in general we are expecting peaceful elections in the two blocks," an official said.

Amit P. Javalgi, the Darjeeling district superintendent, said adequate police arrangements had been made for the polls.

"There will be armed and unarmed policemen in each of the 520 booths. We have brought in additional forces from neighbouring districts for adequate security cover. There will also be special vigilance at all vulnerable booths. We will have mobile police units and extra forces deployed at strategic locations," Javalgi said.

Anurag Srivastava, the district magistrate, said there would be three to four armed policemen at polling stations with more than one booth.

"There are nine polling stations which will have three or four booths. At these stations, we will have three to four armed guards headed by a sub-inspector or an assistant sub-inspector of police. We have divided the SMP area into 50 such sectors with each of them assigned an officer with handful of police personnel," he said.

Besides the SMP, bypolls will be held to 13 panchayat samiti seats and 41 gram panchayat seats in six other north Bengal districts tomorrow.

The key contest to watch is six seats of Dhupguri panchayat samiti which has a total strength of 48. Whoever wins all the six seats, Trinamul or the Left, it will have the magic number of 24 at the panchayat samiti.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY OUR JALPAIGURI CORRESPONDENT