Chakraborty (from top), Tirkey and Guha

Siliguri, Nov. 22: State transport and sports minister Subhas Chakraborty raised a security alarm here today. RDX was suspected to have been used in the Monday blast, Chakraborty said after a visit to the Belakoba station this morning.

“Reports submitted by separate security agencies to the state government indicate that explosives like RDX might have been used,” he said. “Both the state and the Centre are exchanging information before the final result.”

Worried over the present state of affairs of the region, Chakraborty said: “North Bengal is getting restless again and we need to check such incidents.” He and PWD minister of state Manohar Tirkey, also visited North Bengal Medical College and Hospital and Jalpaiguri Sadar Hospital.

“We have to identity those who engineered the blast that killed so many innocent people,” he said. “Going back to Calcutta, I will submit a report to the chief minister.”

Not satisfied with the low ex-gratia declared by the railway authorities, the minister said he would ask the Prime Minister to declare more compensation for the kin of the deceased and for the injured.

Chairman of the state committee of the Forward Bloc Kamal Guha demanded immediate closure of the Tin Bigha corridor. “Everyone has realised that the terrorists are trained in Bangladesh. I had warned Jyoti Basu that the Tin Bigha corridor would prove to be disastrous,” Guha said.

Hiten Burman, the Forward Bloc MP from Cooch Behar, who also visited Belakoba, raised a demand for compensation to the tune of at least Rs 1 lakh for the next of kin of the deceased along with jobs.

The traders here carried on with their business. “We don’t think that such an event can hamper trade,” said Biswajit Das, the secretary of Focin. Kamal Mittal, the chairman of the north Bengal zonal council of the CII, however, said: “Such incidents leave an impact on the confidence of entrepreneurs.”