Security around Tata plant stepped up
-
27/05/2008
-
Telegraph (Kolkata)
Hooghly police have decided to double the deployment of the force at the Tata Motors project site here following a request from the company. The request had been made after the Trinamul Congress routed the CPM here in the rural polls, bagging 15 of the 16 gram panchayat seats, the panchayat samiti and all three zilla parishad berths. Colonel (retd) Sunirmal Patra, a divisional manager of the Tata project, and representatives of several ancillary units met superintendent of police Rajeev Mishra last evening. "I assured them that we will tighten the security around the project. Earlier, we had 600 policemen guarding the boundary wall. Now, we will double the number and set up more watchtowers,' Mishra said. A group of Trinamul supporters had yesterday attacked policemen guarding the wall and set fire to two watchtowers. The police had to fire tear gas shells to drive them away. The Tata official told the police he apprehended more attacks. The 1,200 policemen will be deployed in batches of 400. "They will be armed with sticks, shields and tear gas. There are over 20 police pickets equipped with wireless in the area and they will ask for rubber bullets and water cannons if required,' an officer said.