Still at the receiving end

Statesman News Service

MALDA, 25JAN: Farmers, who were deceived by a licensed seed seller, Mr Achinta Sarkar and his agents over aman paddy seeds recently, may stand to lose further. Although the seller has agreed to reimburse the victim farmers, he has imposed conditions that are coming in the way of reimbursements.

It is learnt that the accused seed seller has handed over Rs 60,000 to his agent to compensate the victims, but is asking them to furnish cash memo and other documents to prove the seeds had been purchased from the agent. More over, the victims have been asked to withdraw the complaint against the seed seller.

Only five of the victim farmers have been able to show the documents causing disunity among them. Distribution of compensation has been stopped under the circumstances.

The CPI-ML (Liberation), which has been backing the farmers, is frustrated with the development, more so with the agriculture department, “Many farmers would be deprived under the given conditions and the agriculture department, which should have taken the responsibility and initiative to ensure the farmers were compensated , is doing nothing “, said Liberation state committee leader Mr Nabakumar Biswas.

“We demanded that Mr Sarkar would deposit compensation to the agriculture department, which in trun would reimburse the farmers, but the agriculture department is not taking the responsibility”, he lamented.

Though the agriculture department has conducted an inquiry against the seed seller Mr Sarkar, it has not taken any action against him. “We would launch a movement demanding cancellation of Mr Sarkar’s licence”, the Liberation leader threatened.

Cops hurt in explosion

MALDA, 25 JAN: Three police personnel, including an assistant sub inspector of police, were injured when a crude bomb, kept in the Malkhana (police store), and exploded in the Chanchal police station this evening. They were admitted to the Chanchal hospital bleeding profusely. The police store was gutted before the fire tenders could arrive. An ASI, Mr Mukul Mohanta was referred to the Malda Hospital as his condition deteriorated. The other two injured are Mr Atul Pramanik and Md M Hussain. The superintendent of police, Malda, Mr Bhuban Mandal, has ordered prove into the incident. SNS

Tough stand on workers

MALDA, 25 JAN: The executive engineer of the public health engineering department in Malda, Mr Swapan Maitra, has alerted the agency of contractual workers that the contractual workers that the contract may get terminated if the workers fail to maintain peace and resort to creating unrest. The workers are responsible for running arsenic-free drinking water supply and there fore the job requires timely and regular supply as water is an essential commodity. SNS