A woman and a 12-year-old girl died after villagers in West Bengals South 24-Parganas district clashed violently with police and officials who asked them to stop tapping power illegally from overhead lines. The area is a Trinamool Congress stronghold,and the mob that hurled crude bombs and pelted the police and officials with stones was reportedly led by local Trinamool leaders. At least 20 policemen and 10 officials of the West Bengal State Electricity Board (WBSEB) were seriously injured. Late in the evening,Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed unhappiness over the official operation and said police and power officials responsible for the violence and deaths of the two villagers would be punished. The WBSEB team accompanied by police visited Nainan village in South 24-Parganass Magrahat block Thursday afternoon and,at a meeting with village leaders,asked villagers to pay power bills and stop tapping power illegally. The meeting did not go well,and in the evening,a mob attacked the officials with stones and countrymade bombs,and set around 10 vehicles on fire. After around 30 officials sustained injuries,and with the situation spinning out of control,the police opened fire. Our team went there as we were getting reports that the level of illegal tapping in that area is very high. It has become a habit. people are extremely reluctant to pay electricity bills. They have taken the state electricity department for granted and because of this menace we are losing huge revenue, a senior power department official said. South 24-Parganas superintendent of police L N Meena confirmed that 12-year-old Class 4 student Regina Mullick and housewife Putul Sheikh died in the clash. We are yet to investigate whether they died after being hit by police bullets or as a result of splinter injuries from bombs, Meena said. A senior police officer said the Trinamool controls the area politically. The panchayat,the panchayat samiti,the zilla parishad and the MLA,all are Trinamool, he said. In the evening,Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said,We will investigate the incident. I have heard that there was some kind of political motivation for the violence. I am not happy with the role that the police and WBSEB have played. We will probe the incident,fix responsibility for the loss of lives,and punish those responsible. Namita Saha,Trinamool MLA from Magrahat,said,Two women have died. The area has our supporters,and also supporters of the Congress. We are yet to ascertain the political affiliations of the victims.
