Kolkata, April 13: An intelligence report warning that a large number of young men from villages in West Midnapore district have been getting arms training in Chhattisgarh’s Danda-karanya region since August appears to have rattled the West Bengal administration.

“This process is going on for quite some time now. The local Maoist leaders in West Bengal select youth from villages and send them to Chhattisgarh for arms training. They return to their homes after a stipulated timeframe. Only the cream of the group end up joining the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA),” a senior IPS officer at the helm of anti-Maoist operations in West Bengal said.
Insiders claim the report specifically mentions that since August 2009, youth from two villages in Salboni — Kumrawati and Kumirkata — have been selected for arms training. They are expected to join the guerrilla army led by Rakhal and Tara which is active in that area. Intelligence reports say almost 50 per cent of young men in these two villages have been sent to Chhattisgarh for training. Many have also gone to Dandakaranya from villages like Rameswarpur, Mathurapur and Hathilot in West Midnapore.
“Not all of the trained youth will land up in their commando force PLGA. During training, their tenacity and capacity to withstand police torture is also tested,” the officer said. The state home department got an alert recently that several “outsiders” were seen entering West Bengal.
 

Monalisa Chaudhuri