Haimabati Haldar

Tamluk, Sept. 30: Seventeen Nandigram residents who were injured in the police firing on March 14, 2007, have written to Mamata Banerjee saying they are yet to receive compensation and seeking financial assistance or jobs.

Twenty-five Nandigram residents who had suffered injuries during the CPM’s armed recapture of the East Midnapore pocket on November 10 the same year and the family members of two persons killed in the attack have also made the same requests to the chief minister.

The Left Front government had paid Rs 5 lakh to the family of each of the 13 dead in the police firing and Rs 1 lakh each to 156 people who suffered major injuries, following a Calcutta High Court order.

But the names of the 17 villagers did not figure on the list of persons eligible for compensation prepared by the Trinamul-affiliated Bhumi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee (BUPC), which had led the land war in Nandigram.

Abu Taher, a BUPC convener and the deputy chief of the Trinamul-led Nandigram block-I panchayat samiti, said the committee had overlooked the 17 people.

“We admit our mistake. We toiled to incorporate all those who had died or suffered injuries in the firing but somehow, we overlooked these 17 people. They are all BUPC supporters and we had sent their names to Mamata Banerjee a month ago requesting her to compensate them,” he said.

The government had not announced any compensation for those killed and injured in the CPM’s Nandigram recapture. Now the families of the two killed in the attack and 25 injured have requested the chief minister for financial aid or a job for one member.

“Armed CPM cadres attacked a BUPC procession in Nandigram’s Maheshpur village. Harmads armed with revolvers and pipe guns had crossed the Talpati canal from Khejuri and fired at the procession. The previous government did not provide any compensation to the victims of this firing. We have requested Mamata Banerjee to compensate them,” Taher said.

Abhijeet Samanta, 38, one of the 17 hit in the police firing, said: “I was at Bhangabera with around 10,000 villagers when the police opened fire. I suffered a bullet injury in my throat. I underwent six surgeries at Calcutta’s SSKM hospital. But I did not get any compensation. I had informed the district magistrate but nothing happened.”

“I have become weak now. To fund my treatment, I had to sell off my five pumps that I used to rent out. I am so weak that I can’t cultivate my one-bigha plot. I am finding it difficult to feed my wife and two children. I need a job,” he added.

Haimabati Haldar, who suffered a bullet injury in her stomach, said: “I received treatment at SSKM for six months. Still now, I have to visit the hospital once every month for check-up. I have requested Mamata to either give me financial assistance or provide a job to my son.”

Saira Bewa, the widow of Sheikh Rejaul who was killed in the CPM attack on November 10, said she had to depend on relatives to run her family. “I have four daughters and a son. If the Netai firing victims can get compensation, why can’t we?” she asked.