UPA delayed sending Central forces, says Buddha

He accused the Centre of delay in sending the CRPF sought by his government for deployment in Nandigram and said had the Central forces arrived in time, the situation could have been avoided.

8220;I wrote to the Home ministry on 27 October but they informed me on November 5 that they could not provide Central forces because they were to be sent to Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh where Assembly polls will be held,8221; Bhattacharjee said.

Asked whether the events in Nandigram took place as a result of the failure of the police, Bhattacharjee replied 8216;to some extent it is their failure. The police could not enter Nandigram. If they could have, the situation would have been better8217;.

Bhattacharjee said he had personally called up Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and urged them to send Central forces.

8220;One battalion of CRPF was sanctioned for Nandigram. They reached Kolkata on 11 and went to Nandigram the next day,8221; he said.

Asked if he had been in touch with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Bhattacharjee said, 8220;he is in Moscow.8221;

Bhattacharjee said, 8220;we wanted a political solution to Nandigram. When that did not happen, we decided to deploy the CRPF and the Eastern Frontier Rifles for restoration of peace and return of the homeless.8221;

Asked if it was a failure of his government, he said, 8220;not at all. Who delayed sending the Central forces? It was the Centre. Initially they refused to send them8221;.

Asked how CPM supporters could enter Nandigram when the police had failed, Bhattacharjee said, 8220;it would have been better had the police entered. But the people had no alternative and returned home.8221;

Asked whether the peace of the crematorium has returned to Nandigram, Bhattacharjee shot back 8216;then was all that happened in the last 11 months was a sign of heavenly peace?8221;

The government, he said, had reshuffled police officers from IG to police station level, including the SP after the March 14 police firing.

The government would compensate all the 14 killed on March 14 8212; eight in police firing and the rest in violence, he said, while the injured had been treated at government expense at hospitals.

The families of those killed would receive Rs 2 lakh each, he said. 8220;All papers are ready. I have asked my officials to contact family members and arrange for payment.8221;

He said compensation would not be paid to the injured.

He called upon people rendered homeless irrespective of political affiliation to return home and cooperate with the administration.