| Calcutta, May 24: If Sarojini Naidu joked that a fortune was required to keep Mahatma Gandhi in poverty, Calcutta police are realising that they need to chain themselves to ensure Mamata Banerjee remains a "people's chief minister". Hundreds today descended in Mamata's path with flowers, camera phones and chits of paper for her autograph, blocking the right turn that takes the chief minister to Writers' Buildings from the GPO. Such was the throng of admirers that Mamata was forced to get off her car and walk — something for which she does not need any lessons. But the hapless police did not know what was expected of them. "Don't you know how to form a human chain? Haven't you learnt how to keep people away? Do I have to teach you how to do that?" Mamata asked the policemen around her as the crowd kept closing in. But the police did not know whether pushing the people away like they are wont to, using a firm hand or the baton would go down well with the chief minister who was expressing outrage and soaking in the adulation intermittently. As the little black Santro peeped out from the clutter of office-bound vehicles, the NS Road-BBD Bag North intersection was taken over. Cops jumped out of cars that tail the chief minister but waited on the fringes as the people closed in, with some request or the other or simply to touch Didi. Mamata obliged, shaking hands and accepting the flowers until too many of them were too close. "I realise you don't know even the basics…. Ekta line kore haat jure daran," she told the policemen. Then came a rider that landed the police in a dilemma. "Keep the people away. But don't push." At best, the police in Bengal are not adept at the art of Gandhigiri, especially when it comes to crowd management. At worst, they lose nerve and take extreme steps — as they did in Nandigram and transformed the complexion of the land movement. "Our hands are tied. How can you keep a surging mass of people away without pushing them?" an officer wondered later. At the scene, the chief minister had taken complete charge. Mamata held up the arms of two policemen to give them a lesson in how to form a human chain. "All of you do this." But the haven created by the safari suits was easy to breach once the crowd realised the police wouldn't dare drive them away. The 100-metre walk to Writers' took 10 minutes. Every few paces, the chief minister looked back and around and saw the people right behind, on the left and right. "Apnara ki amar katha bujhte parchenna…. Eibhabe line diye danriye lok aatkan. (Can't you understand me? Stand like this and keep the people away)," she said, spreading her arms again to show the police how to make the chain more effective. A few metres from the central gate of Writers', she halted, turned towards the crowd and offered her counsel: "Aapnara kaaje jaan ebaar. Ebhabe rastay bhir korbenna. Dekha holo to, eibaar jaan (Please go to work now. Don't crowd the road this way. You've seen me. Now go.)" Even before her voice had drowned, a man in his mid-20s held her hand from behind. A guard was quick to react and push him away but Mamata lost her cool and gave a "push-not, hurt-not" sermon. Right outside the Writers' gate, a man in his forties fell at her feet, did a pranam and handed over a yellow file. She picked him up as the police hurried to shove him away. Another declamation followed: "Eder kono training-i nei… kichhui janena... daanrao aaji CP-r shathe meetingkore bolchhi. Eder diye kissu hobena (They have no training… I'll meet the commissioner today and complain… These people are good for nothing)." A senior officer later said it was impossible to keep people away after allowing them to assemble so close to the chief minister's path. "It's imperative that people's access to the area is controlled. For that, the police have to cordon off a stretch and ensure that no one is able to breach it." But access control is impossible because Mamata has refused to use an impromptu green channel carved out by holding up other commuters and issued standing instructions to keep the visible police presence on her route at a minimum. The resolve to shun trappings and privilege is laudable but Mamata does not seem to have taken into account the frenzy her electoral sweep has whipped up around her. A senior member of the special branch's special security unit, which provides the safari suit cordon to Mamata, said the squad did a pretty good job given the situation. "Yesterday, the chief minister had nearly tripped after someone stepped on her sari in the protected area. Today, the people would have pounced on the chief minister had we slipped." Police sources said the use of multiple agencies to protect the chief minister was also causing confusion and, at times, resulting in delayed response. The three cars that follow the chief minister now carry personnel from the special branch of Calcutta police and a group of young officers from the railway force (RPSF) whose presence she had specifically ordered. The railway guards form the ring closest to her. The outer ring is made of officers from the special branch. Invisible to the ordinary eye are officers from the intelligence branch, reserve force and the detective department. "The role of the RPSF is not yet clear. It's a grey area," said a senior Calcutta officer. "But if there are several agencies, you need time to work out perfect co-ordination." "For a Z-plus category protectee, it's important the protocol is followed. Otherwise, it is very difficult for the police," said a senior officer overseeing chief minister's security. The norms stipulate that a VIP's path is cleared at least 15 minutes before arrival. Some officers are hoping that the "novelty" will wear off after some days and the crowd will gradually ebb. But other officers fear that the situation may get worse as word about the chief minister's accessibility spreads. In the crowd today, there were people from Chinsurah (Hooghly), Burdwan and Canning (South 24-Parganas). "I came to know from the newspapers that meeting the chief minister was easy. So I decided to try my luck," said Rangan Das, 29, an employee of a private firm in Dalhousie who waited near Writers' from 10am for an autograph. Police commissioner R.K. Pachnanda met the chief minister this afternoon and decided to retain the bamboo barricades erected around Writers' for Mamata's first day in office and extend the existing barricades up to the GPO. A proposal has been sent to the PWD to strengthen their props. A meeting Pachnanda held with senior officers in the evening decided on additional deployment across the barricades. "Given the chief minister's tendency to stay close to the people, it will be wise for Calcutta police to raise a force especially trained to form a human chain within a few seconds," former police commissioner Tushar Kanti Talukdar told The Telegraph. Talukdar was dead serious, unlike Sarojini Naidu who was referring to the Mahatma's insistence on travelling third class, which sometimes meant that an entire compartment had to be booked. Law and order but not with bullet | | OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT |  | | Mamata Banerjee with senior police officers at the meeting at Writers' Buildings on Tuesday. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya |
Calcutta, May 24: Mamata Banerjee today told district police chiefs to continue the crackdown on illegal stockpiles of arms and maintain law and order at any cost but "not with bullets" as she outlined plans for a people-friendly force. The chief minister also instructed each police station to set up a citizen's committee that would act as an "interface" between the people and the law enforcers. The tough message with a humane touch came at a meeting at Writers' Buildings where the Trinamul Congress leader met superintendents of police and district magistrates. "Her message to the officials is to maintain law and order at all cost but not with bullets. Police have to be people-friendly," industries minister Partha Chatterjee told reporters after the meeting. Since taking charge four days ago, Mamata has repeatedly told party MLAs and leaders to let the police work independently without political interference. Today, her message to the police brass was to work impartially. "The chief minister said political colour should not come into play while maintaining law and order. She has asked police officers not to bow down before any pressure. Senior officers have been asked to visit police stations regularly," said an IPS officer. A source said the citizen's committees, which would include eminent citizens, would "act as an interface" between the police and the people. "There has to be one committee under each police station in the state," the source added. Mamata also wanted to know from the district police chiefs the problems they faced, especially those related to logistics. "Some SPs complained about lack of proper vehicles and difficulties in procuring fuel during critical moments. The chief minister assured them these problems would be sorted out," a minister said. Mamata instructed administrative officials to ensure that all employment-generation schemes like the NREGA were implemented fully, especially in under-developed areas. Chatterjee said there had been complaints of food supply being affected in parts of Jungle Mahal. "Rice is not available in some of the interior villages. District officials and the department concerned have been asked to coordinate and ensure that food supplies and drinking water reach these villages. The officials have been asked to submit a status report," Chatterjee said. Mamata asked officials to ensure that there was no delay in issuing BPL cards and SC/ST certificates. She has sought a report from all departments about land available with them. Finance minister Amit Mitra has been asked to look into problems in granting old-age and widow pensions. Night trains Mamata is keen on resuming night train services along Jungle Mahal from May 27. She held a meeting with the South-Eastern Railway's general manager and security commissioner and the director-general of police (RPF) to look into the modalities for resuming services. The night movement of several important trains was stopped after the Jnaneswari Express tragedy last year. Railway officials will discuss the matter with district police officers on Thursday. Singur payoff one option | | SAMBIT SAHA | | Calcutta, May 24: The options before the Mamata Banerjee government to free Singur land from the lease include paying the Tatas and the vendors, officials told The Telegraph, cautioning that unlocking the plots is only but one step in an extremely complex process. The government officials said the Tatas and the ancillary units had officially said they could not recover investment valued at Rs 550 crore from Singur. "They were agreeable to return the entire leasehold area to the state. While they had not specifically mentioned any amount as compensation, they wanted to be paid for the loss, which is about Rs 550 crore," an official said. The communication from Tata Motors came not only before the new government was sworn in but also the first cabinet decision to return 400 acres to farmers who were unwilling to part with their land. But the government officials said the figure could become a starting point for negotiations if both sides decide to steer clear of legal options. The officials underscored that any compensation — a word they were reluctant to use — need not necessarily be in the form of cash. The government can consider giving the Tatas land of equivalent value elsewhere in the state or in the form of incentives for some other industry. Industry minister Partha Chatterjee had yesterday said there had been speculation that the Tatas wanted to return the land, suggesting that the erstwhile government might have dissuaded them from doing so. The new government has been focusing on finding a way to return the land as there is no such provision within the existing legal framework. However, sources said some officials of the commerce and industry department had briefed their minister that it was possible to return the land if the law was amended. Chatterjee today said he received some documents on the Singur lease and more would be made available to him in the next few days. The minister will present them before Mamata. While Mamata had mentioned 400 acres on Friday, the industry minister today declined to cite a figure when he was asked about the cumulative landholding of all "unwilling" farmers. Government sources put the figure at 200 acres, including some plots for which cheques were not collected because of disputes between holders and owners. Legal sources pointed out that if the owner wanted to sell the land and the tenant was not agreeable, the plot could not be bracketed with that belonging to the "unwilling" farmers. The Left Front government had offered to carve out over 100 acres at most for the "unwilling" farmers in 2008, days before the Tatas pulled out from Singur. Surprise and shock at SSKM | | SANJAY MANDAL AND TAMAGHNA BANERJEE |  | | A relative of accident victim Buddhadeb Patra cries out for Mamata's attention during her surprise visit to SSKM on Tuesday morning. Picture by Sayantan Ghosh |
Mamata Banerjee helped an accident victim named Buddhadeb get admission to SSKM during a surprise visit on Tuesday, but so crowded is the state's largest referral hospital that she couldn't get him a bed. "They had turned my son away and I was losing hope. Then I saw Didi entering the hospital and I begged of her to get my son admitted," Rabiram Patra of Singur, 26-year-old Buddhadeb's father, told Metro. But the best that the SSKM authorities could offer Buddhadeb, who has a fractured skull, was a bloodstained mattress on "floor 15" near a mosquito-infested elevator shaft in the Curzon Ward. "We don't have a vacant bed as of now. We can't evict a patient and put another on that bed just because the chief minister has recommended his admission," said a senior official of the hospital, where 15 per cent of those admitted have to make do with mattresses on the floor. Buddhadeb, who suffered the head injury after falling off a motorbike early on Tuesday at Barakamalpur in Singur, was lying untreated outside SSKM when Mamata decided to do a detour from her route to Writers' Buildings and enter the hospital. The convoy — Mamata's black Santro, two Ambassadors of the Special Branch and a Mahindra Scorpio with Railway Protection Force officers — entered SSKM through the emergency entrance at 11.30am even as constables deployed at the Kalighat crossing blocked Judges Court Road-bound traffic expecting her car to take a U-turn towards Gopalnagar. As Mamata got off and started talking to the junior doctors and patients, her guards blocked the emergency gate. As she has been doing since last Friday, the chief minister was quick to intervene. "Ei gate chhere dao, patient aar haspataler lokder-ke dhukte dao(Leave the gate. Allow patients and the hospital staff to enter)," she screamed. Inspection over, Mamata was walking down the steps when one of Buddhadeb's relatives pushed his way through the crowd and fell at her feet. "Didi, aamar patientbaire pore achhe. Kichu ekta byabostha kore din (My patient is lying outside. Please do something)," the man cried. Mamata immediately summoned a police officer and asked him to arrange for the young man's admission. "Her order worked like magic. My son was not taken to the emergency ward but brought straight up to the first floor," said father Rabiram. Buddhadeb was put on oxygen and his wounds were dressed after being brought to the Curzon Ward. He lay on the table till 2.30pm, after which the attendants shifted him to the mattress on the floor. But wouldn't someone with a skull fracture and other wounds catch an infection in such a setting? "Yes, patients with fresh injuries can easily catch an infection and develop sepsis, which might be fatal," a doctor admitted. Officials at SSKM said there was little the hospital could do with 1,200 beds and the present manpower. "This is as much about the failure of healthcare in the districts as the inadequacy of infrastructure at large hospitals like ours. The flow of patients from the district hospitals must be reduced," an official said. Buddhadeb from Singur wasn't the only patient with a Mamata recommendation who failed to get a bed at SSKM on Tuesday. Another young Buddhadeb had requested Mamata to help get his 55-year-old comatose aunt, cerebral stroke patient Pratima Dutta, admitted to the hospital. But there was no vacant bed in the ICU. "She lay in the emergency ward the whole day. In the evening, we were told the ICU was full," Pratima's nephew Buddhadeb Dey said. She has been admitted to a private nursing home in Ekbalpore. | | | | 
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