If you’ve wondered why contingents of men in camouflaged outfits have been walking through our lanes wielding assault rifles, read on. These are men from the Central Forces familiarising themselves with the twin townships before they stand guard at the election booths on April 25.

Men from five companies of Central Forces are camping at New Town’s Aliah University in preparation of election duty. Three of these are from the Border Security Force (BSF) and two from Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). Each company comprises between 80 and 100 men.

These paramilitary forces will be guarding the polling booths in Salt Lake and New Town. They would also be posted within 200m of the booths and many would be patrolling on foot and on vehicles.

Bring it on
The forces have been handed over CDs containing footage of the violence that had prevailed in Salt Lake during the corporation elections last October, but they are not daunted. “We know exactly what happened last year and will be keeping a close watch on lumpen elements who might try to do a re-run,” said an SSB officer.

Before Salt Lake, the SSB forces were posted in the Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh that borders Nepal and the BSF men belong to the 406 battalion of the paramilitary forces that were in the Kishanganj border district in Bihar.” While on border duty we have to keep an eye out for trouble-makers and can recognise them instinctively,” said a head constable of the BSF. “We had to watch out for people trying to cross over illegally as well as smugglers trying to move cattle, drugs, bootleg liquor and banned cough syrup.”

In New Town, the men are up from 5am and by 7am they’re out patrolling across Salt Lake, New Town and Rajarhat. The officers of the local police stations are guiding them. “Several residents of both the townships have been coming forward to interact with us. They greet us and say that they have faith in us,” said assistant commandant Kamlesh Saini of the SSB’s 59 Battalion.

The head constable said their patrol duties are on rotational basis. “We have also formed Quick Reaction Teams (QRTs) and will be on standby in case of any trouble on poll day.”

All work and some play
The men seem impressed with the townships. “We quite liked the wide streets of Salt Lake and unlike New Town, it has a good tree cover that helped us cope with the heat,” said a constable of the force.

The heat has not affected their patrols. “The summer is oppressive but our personnel are trained for all kinds of weather. Not one of us has complained or fallen sick,” said Saini.

The men are tucking water-soaked cloths under their collars for some relief and are wearing caps as shields from the sun.

The only complain is about drinking water scarcity in their camp. “We are carrying our ration of food and our quartermasters are rustling up great dishes like rajma-rice, daal and spicy chicken curries. But we have a shortage of water in this building. On some days, we are having to buy water from the local markets,” the head constable added.

The forces that work on rotational basis have visited the Eco Tourism Park and Nicco Park on their off days. “We’ve never seen a park as big as Eco Park before and almost all our boys have tried zorbing there,” said a sub-inspector of the BSF.

Though the men hail from different parts of the country they are aware of the political scenario in Bengal and even poke fun at it. “It seems any Tom, Dick and Harry can contest for polls here. We know that the transport department has lent us buses to move about but their minister is in jail and fighting the polls!” said a jawan, tongue firmly in cheek.