‘Nothing happened’
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Haldia port

Mamata Banerjee at Writers’ on Tuesday. (Pradip Sanyal)

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said that in Haldia “kichhu hoyni” (nothing has happened).

The assertion came two days after three officials of Haldia Bulk Terminals (HBT), a cargo handler, complained that they were taken away from an apartment at gunpoint and hounded out with a warning never to return. HBT had laid off 275 workers, citing paucity of work at the port amid suggestions that cargo-handling was being diverted to another company whose owners are associated with the Trinamul Congress. The Mumbai-based HBT, which had suspended operations following unrest, had gone to court, which asked the police to provide protection to workers willing to perform their duties. The alleged abduction at gunpoint was reported a day after the police pitched tents in and around the Haldia dock. The following reports are based on the accounts of the chief minister, HBT, a guard at the complex from where the officials were allegedly taken away and two neighbours.