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Maoists target census in Lalgarh by Naresh Jana


Armed Maoists and People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities leaders have warned nearly 200 villages in and around Lalgarh not to provide information to census officials.

After collection of data for Census 2011 began in Bengal on April 1, Maoists, with guns slung across their shoulders, and People’s Committee leaders swooped on villages in Lalgarh, Salboni, Belpahari and Jhargram and asked people not to “co-operate” with the census teams.

“We have asked the villagers not to co-operate with the census teams. We believe the census is being carried out to ascertain the number of joint forces to be deployed. We don’t want a census because the government does not consider us citizens of the country. There has not been any development in the area,” People’s Committee spokesperson Asit Mahato said.

Some villagers recounted how they had been threatened and intimidated by Maoists and committee members earlier this month.

“I had just finished my lunch around 2.30pm when a group of armed men walked into my courtyard. They told us not to help the census babus. They threatened to kill us if we did so,” said Gobordhan Singh (name changed) of Ajnashuli village in Lalgarh.

Another villager from Madhupur in Salboni, Badal Debsingha (name changed), said a group of People’s Committee members had approached him and some of his friends at a tea stall in a busy market.

“They told us the development funds that the government would get by showing the population in the tribal villages would be spent elsewhere. They said there was no need for a census,” Badal said.

West Midnapore district magistrate N.S. Nigam said: “Development and planning depends on the census figures of an area. The planning for development is done on the basis of the population of a particular area. So, I request the villagers to co-operate with the census teams,” Nigam said.

The census teams, made up mostly by teachers of local primary schools, visited about 50 villages in Salboni, including Madhupur, Gadra, Paluiboni, Hiradihi and Bhursa but had to return without any success.

Of the 7,000 primary teachers appointed for the census job, about 300 were recruited from 200 villages in Lalgarh and its neighbouring areas. Many of them said they were scared to visit the villages after the Maoist threat.

“We are in a fix. We have been deployed by the government to carry out the census job. But at the same time, we are scared of the Maoist threat. We live in these villages and everyone knows us. We may be targeted if we visit the villages on census duty,” said Anirban Roy (name changed), a primary teacher from Salboni.