Jawans outside the IRB camp in Salboni during the hunger strike

Calcutta, Oct. 12: The India Reserve Battalion (IRB) personnel posted in seven Jungle Mahal camps in West Midnapore will be withdrawn soon as the jawans had staged a hunger strike protesting lack of leaves and prolonged postings in Maoist-hit areas.

The state government’s decision has been prompted by the apprehension that IRB personnel may resort to such protests again and that could affect the discipline of other forces, such as the state armed police and the Specially Trained Armed Company (STRACO), posted in the Maoist-hit zone.

K.L. Tamta, the additional director-general of the armed police, said: “The IRB jawans will be replaced by STRACO personnel. In Bankura and Purulia, we are trying to motivate IRB jawans by listening to their grievances.”

Police sources said around 450 IRB jawans from camps in places such as Shilda, Salboni, Keshpur and Garbeta would be sent to the force’s Durgapur headquarters and kept on stand-by.

Last month, the IRB jawans in camps in West Midnapore, Bankura and the headquarters had organised a two-day hunger strike. “The situation took an ugly turn in West Midnapore. The jawans accused their superiors of deploying them in Maoist-affected areas for a long time,” an officer of the state armed police said.

The fast was called off after then director-general (armed police) Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti visited the Shilda camp and pacified the agitating jawans by assuring them that their demands would be looked into. After Chakrabarty was removed from the post, there were murmurs that his assurance to the protesters had not gone down well with the government.

The CPI (Maoist) today welcomed the IRB jawans’ decision to stage the hunger strike. In a statement, the rebel outfit’s Bengal state committee secretary Akash said: “We welcome the protest by the IRB jawans. They were forced to work for over 12 hours a day. The hunger strike will encourage other policemen to protest against their superiors’ high-handedness.”