Eleven persons were injured in a clash between the Trinamool Congress and Congress party workers at Sabong in West Midnapore district as the first phase of panchayat polls began on Thursday in West Bengal. In another incident, senior Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Surya Kanto Mishra was involved in an altercation with local Trinamool Congress supporters outside a polling booth at Khadurdah gram panchayat area in West Midnapore district.
Complying with the Election Commission's order, the West Bengal government on Wednesday removed seven officials from their existing posts and replaced them with different officials as desired by the poll panel.
Floods in West Bengal have claimed over 40, with water levels rising arlamingly in East Midnapore, North and South 24 Parganas, Hooghly, Howrah, Birbhum and Burdwan districts.
A woman self-styled Maoist commander on Friday surrendered before the police in West Midnapore district alleging sexual exploitation by ultra leaders.
While man and a woman were reported killed when trees came crashing down on them in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, a 13-year-old girl died in a similar incident in adjoining Howrah. No casualties have been reported from Odisha yet.
A jawan from the joint security forces was critically injured on Wednesday when Maoists fired at a patrol party while it was engaged in routine combing operations at Birihari forest area in West Midnapore district on the first day of the two-day Naxal- sponsored bandh. Ajay Gupta, a jawan of assistant sub-inspector rank, was rushed to Midnapore medical college hospital in a serious condition, said the police.
The severe cyclonic storm, which brought in its wake heavy rain coupled with gale wind till early Sunday, uprooted hundreds of trees and snapped cables in Kolkata and in the coastal districts of North and South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore, bring life to a near-halt.
At least 120 passengers were feared killed and Hundred passengers were killed and 160 injured after suspected Maoists derailed 13 coaches of Mumbai-bound Gyaneshwari Express leading to a collision with a goods train in West Midnapore district early on Friday.
At least 120 passengers are feared killed and 150 injured after suspected Maoists blasted rail tracks in West Midnapore district early on Friday, derailing 13 coaches of a Mumbai-bound express train, five of which were hit by a speeding goods train.
One of the cars in the convoy of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee was on Monday night hit by a lorry coming from opposite direction at Kolaghat in East Midnapore district causing minor injuries to her body guard.
Ghosh suffered minor injuries when a group of women allegedly attacked her when she tried to take one BJP agent inside a polling booth.
Arrested Maoist-backed tribal leader Chhatradhar Mahato has been charged with sedition and booked under various sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for raising funds for a terrorist outfit and attempting to murder police personnel.
Maoists triggered a blast on a stretch of land along the railway track between Midnapore and Godapia Sal stations in West Midnapore district of West Bengal in the wee hours on Monday as the 48-hr bandh called by them began.
"Two security men -- Alok Mondal and Srimanta Banerjee -- of the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) were fatally injured in the landmine explosion. The duo was rushed to Midnapore Medical College and Hospital where they were declared brought dead," West Midnapore SP Manoj Kumar Verma told PTI over phone.
The death toll in the Gyaneshwari Express derailment in West Midnapore district on Saturday rose to 104 after more bodies were extricated from the wrecked coaches of the Mumbai-bound train.
Three Maoists and a civilian were among those killed when the ultras attacked the Eastern Frontier Rifle camp in West Midnapore district leaving 24 jawans dead, police said on Tuesday.
After a meeting with Buddhadeb, Indrani -- the wife of officer-in-charge of Sankrail police station, Atindranath Dutta -- said they had conveyed to the chief minister Maoist leader Kishenji's demand that the women arrested by joint forces in West Midnapore district be released immediately.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appealed to people to maintain peace and calm and urged the protesters to refrain from taking law into own hands.
A blood-soaked Nandigram made Mamata Banerjee what she is today and underpins the hopes of the combustible West Bengal leader of clinching a third straight term in office.
Eleven people were charred to death and four others injured in an explosion in an illegal firecracker unit at Pingla in West Midnapore district.
Bengal police officer Atindranath Dutta, who was released unharmed after being kidnapped by the Maoists last month, faces disciplinary action for not joining work.
Strongly opposing the proposed nuclear power plant at Haripur in West Bengal's East Midnapore district, a Trinamool Congress Parliamentarian on Tuesday said it could not be built in the densely populated area and on a multi-crop land. "The nuclear power plant should be shifted elsewhere. It cannot be set up on a four or five crop-land threatening the livelihood of farmers. It also cannot come up in such a densely populated area," said TC MP Sisir Adhikary.
Hundreds of people complained that they had to go without food and sleep in the aftermath of cyclone, which has wreaked havoc in Bengal, as their homes lay inundated amid heavy showers that continued to pummel several parts of the state.
IMD Director General Dr Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said that 'Yaas' is likely to intensify into a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm by Tuesday evening and Chandbali is likely to witness the maximum damage caused by it.
Normal life was affected for the second day on Tuesday in West Bengal's Maoist-infested districts of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura during the 48-hour bandh called by the ultras in five states to protest the offensive by security forces against Naxalites in Lalgarh.
Laxman Chandra Seth, believed by the vast population of the area to have been the villain of the historic anti-farmland acquisition movement in 2007, said the two built their political careers by misleading the innocent people of Nandigram. Now their lies are back to haunt them.
A quick look at the 66-year-old leader's political journey in the mid-1970s shows how injuries and physical assaults have shaped her political career over the years.
The first group of securitymen arrived at Lalgarh police station, which had been cut off by the tribals since November last year, with the police saying that it was a 'partial victory'.
The system moved north-northeastwards at 20 kmph in the last six hours and is over west-central Bay of Bengal, 90 km from Gopalpur, 120 km from Puri and 210 km from Paradip, the weather office said in its 11.30 am bulletin.
Twenty-three persons have died in flash floods in East and West Midnapore districts of West Bengal during the past two days, officials said. West Midnapore District Magistrate N S Nigam said 15 persons died in his district. All 15 deaths were reported from Sabang, Pingla and Narayangarh. Of these, Narayangarh alone accounted for 11 deaths.
The Army was called out on Wednesday to assist the administration in West Midnapore district where the flood situation remained grim affecting 1.5 lakh people.
Taking strong exception to former West Bengal chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay skipping a meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, government sources on Wednesday said his conduct has made a severe dent to Indian Administrative Service and it could lead to anarchy.
With the disease now virtually knocking at Kolkata's doors after spreading in Howrah, Rehman told PTI that poultry products from the affected areas would not be allowed to enter the city. The fear has aggravated since the spread to South 24 Parganas, part of which form the city's suburbs, and Kolkata Municipal Corporation has formed eight teams to monitor the situation in the city.
Speaking at a programme at Kolaghat in West Midnapore district, the chief minister said, "We are against forceful acquisition of land. In West Midnapore district the Haldia Development Authority and West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation have land banks. "We will allot land for projects from there."
The Centre has sought a detailed report from the West Bengal government on the circumstances leading to the violence.
BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari filed his nomination on Friday from the Nandigram seat against his mentor-turned-adversary Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, and said he was '100 per cent' confident of his victory.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday filed her nomination for Nandigram assembly seat, where she will take on her former protege and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Suvendu Adhikari and exuded confidence of winning it saying she has never returned empty-handed from the land of anti-farm land acquisition movement.
'Those who win indulge in shooting, looting, throwing bombs and burning houses.'
According to the sources, he wrote to TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee apprising her of his decision to resign from the party's primary membership.
Although the TMC, which controls nearly 80 per cent of the state's panchayats, has been at the receiving end of the public ire, the opposition BJP and the CPI-M have also faced protests in some areas over allegations of fraud related to the 'Amphan' aid delivery.
