Ration protest on

Statesman News Service

BURDWAN/MALDA, Oct. 7: An angry mob, protesting against corrupt rationing practices, ransacked the house of a ration dealer, looted food materials and launched an attack on a procession and office of the CPI-M in Nababhat in the outskirts of Burdwan town today. The ration dealer is reportedly a Trinamul Congress supporter and the attackers were allegedly backed by the RSP. As protests and public outrage against corrupt rationing practices spread to the neighbouring districts, angry villagers in the Kandi sub-division area of Murshidabad ransacked houses and shops of five ration dealers, went on a looting spree and also set on fire their go-downs in a series of incidents since yesterday.In Burdwan, a mob broke into the house of ration dealer, Mr Sheikh Fakir Mohammed around 8.30 a.m., dragged him out of his house along with his sons and beat them up. Even the womenfolk of the house were not spared. The mob also torched a tractor, six motorbikes and a Tata Sumo while furniture worth Rs 12 lakh were set on fire as well. Ten television sets, ten VCDs, a sound system, two refrigerators were damaged when the house was ransacked. Gold jewellery worth Rs 8 lakh and Rs 14 lakh in cash were also looted. Soon after this, a group of CPI-M activists and leaders were also attacked when they tried to defend the dealer and a local party office was ransacked. Twelve CPI-M supporters, including two of their leaders, Mr Ganesh Chowdhury and Mr Arabindo Panja were rushed to the Burdwan Medical College and Hospital. The police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the mob and eight villagers were arrested. Later, around 2000 CPI-M supporters, took out a rally in the village brandishing sword, lathis and chains. The ration dealer later alleged: “The intruders were headed by RSP activists. Yesterday they had demanded Rs 15 lakh to spare house of vandalism.” Reports say that the dealer, is also a rich farmer and according to the district administration, “there has been no complaint against him.” Mr Amol Halder, district CPI-M secretary said: “The miscreants are taking advantage of the current turmoil surrounding the rationing system. This dealer is a supporter of TMC, but our men went to his rescue as we are not tackling the issue politically.” Meanwhile, the Murshidabad SP, Mr. Rahul Srivastava said that 37 persons were arrested in connection with looting spree at shops of ration dealers’ and go-downs of distributors. “A large police contingent has been deployed in trouble prone areas to combat the situation,” Mr. Srivastava said. Police said that violence spread to Murshidabad following rumours that dealers in the district would compensate Rs 1000 each to ration cardholders. When dealers refused to do so, angry villagers looted the houses of ration dealers located at Sherpur, Simulia in Khargram today. At Sherpur, two vehicles and two go-downs of Mr. Nazir Khan, a ration dealer, were set on fire. 24 persons were arrested in this connection. At Simulia, villagers looted the house of Aleyara Bibi, a modified ration dealer, when her husband was away from home. It was alleged that villagers looted even ornaments from her house. “We do not have such information, but will enquire into the ornament looting case, if any. In fact, we do not have complaints and we are initiating suo moto cases here,” the Murshidabad SP said. Police said that distributors serving the Kandi sub-division area could not supply materials for this week and some dealers left their home after hanging a closure notice in front of their shops. This created further trouble.