West Bengal: Security breach near CM home; CP rushes to spot – Times of India

KOLKATA: In a major security breach, five para teachers — demanding a pay hike — jumped into Tolly’s Nullah and waded towards chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s Kalighat residence on Tuesday, taking security officials by surprise. Police commissioner Soumen Mitra rushed to the spot and all five — including a woman — and two others were arrested and later released on bail.
The para teachers — from schools and unrecognised madrassas — were agitating for a pay-hike, which they claimed, had been put on hold for the past seven years.
After Tuesday’s incident, the CP, along with the joint commissioner (crime), Murlidhar Sharma, assessed the security. Personnel from multiple agencies are deployed there, with Kolkata Police providing the peripheral security and access control. Police will also probe the security lapse, sources indicated.
Around10.10am, two groups of para teachers gathered near the Alipore correctional home and the Alipore post office. “One group waded across Tolly’s Nullah, holding onto one another. The placards, concealed in their clothing, were then brought out,” a police officer said. By 10.20am, police were seen requesting the female protester, Runu Dutta from Burdwan, to come out of water.
A cop then took off his uniform and waded into the water in a towel to help the protesters come up though the slippery bank. Ropes were also thrown in. Beside the CM’s security team and local police, the Disaster Management Group divers too reached the spot. Dutta burst into tears once she came up. “It has been seven years that I am not getting any increment. I am the lone breadwinner of my family and have two children,” she said, before being whisked away by the police.
An office-bearer of the Parshwa Shikshak Ekta Mancha — the forum of contractual teachers — however, said: “No one from our organisation was involved.” Education minister Patha Chatterjee said: “Continuous demonstrations will not help. A solution needs to be worked out. I had gone to their demonstration on Rani Rashmoni Road to listen to their grievances. We are discussing all possible means,” he said.