Raghuvansh seeks report on Coochbehar firing

The firing on a group of protesting members of the Forward Bloc in Coochbehar in West Bengal, which resulted in four deaths, has driven Union Rural Development minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh to ask for a report from the state government.

His locus standi on the issue is that the protesters were demanding a fair distribution of BPL cards and speedy implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme.

"More or less, it is a law and order issue, but since the protestors were agitating with regard to my ministry and its work, I wish to know the status of things," he said.

He added that he had already dispatched a letter to the West Bengal government in order to ascertain whether the agitators' demands were legitimate or not.

"To shoot and kill agitators is not a thing that can be accepted," he said.

The Forward Bloc-called 24-hour West Bengal bandh proved to be a success today. However, it was called off after 12 hours, at 6pm. Trains to and from the state were stopped and normal life disrupted across the state.

The police arrested 166 bandh supporters for putting up road blockades in many areas.

FB ministers have asked for Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's resignation.

Meanwhile, the toll in yesterday's police firing climbed to six today.