KOLKATA: Regardless of the Bengal government setting up a mini secretariat at the strife-hit Sandeshkhali to contain people’s anger that led to a large-scale stir against the TMC satraps, the North 24 Parganas island continued to be on the boil on Saturday.Venting out their anger, the locals chased away the family of a TMC leader in presence of policemen and women, who has been at the forefront of the stir against the TMC’s local strongman Shahjahan Sheikh and other satraps, staged demonstrations and took out protest marches wielding brooms.As many as 18 camps have been set up in Sandeshkhali for the lodging of complaints. In the past four days, 817 complaints were lodged, 90 per cent of which was about converting agriculture land into fisheries by grabbing common people’s properties forcibly.Police, too, set up makeshift centres for receiving complaints in the area in which the name of Shahjahan’s brother Sheikh Sirajuddin came up. “Of 66 complaints, 55 are against Sirajuddin who allegedly constructed a market complex under the banner of his name by grabbing lands forcibly,” said a police officer.As part of a damage control move, two TMC ministers Partha Bhowmik and Sujit Basi visited the trouble-hit island on Saturday and faced the locals’ ire in their stronghold. More than two hundred women surrounded Basu and Bhowmik to narrate their plight.Both the ministers gave a patient hearing to the aggrieved villagers who complained about forcible land grabbing and demanded immediate arrest of TMC strongman Shahjahan and the state government’s intervention.The villagers, mainly women, protested when Bhowmik made a remark that they were taught to demand Shahjahan’s arrest by “someone”.“We have heard the villagers’ complaint and will inform Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee,” said Basu.Sandeshkhali has been on the boil since three officers of the ED were bashed up and left bleeding when they went to search the house of local TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh in a foodgrain scam case on January 5. After the TMC leader and his two henchmen went underground, the women mustered up their courage to protests against the sexual abuse on them by the party’s satraps.
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