Pointing out that all-party peace meetings were necessary, he said they were not being held because of a boycott by opposition.
KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Wednesday appealed to opposition parties, including the Trinamool Congress, to stop boycotting all-party meetings to restore peace in the Nandigram area.
"I am appealing to opposition parties once again to join all-party peace meetings in Nandigram for the return of normalcy and am directing the local administration to call
such a meeting," Bhattacharjee told reporters at the Writers' Buildings here.
Pointing out that all-party peace meetings were very necessary, he said they were not being held because of a boycott by opposition parties, including the Trinamool.
"Trinamool Congress gave its word that it would attend the meetings and boycotted the last one on April 22," he said.
Bhattacharjee's remarks came in the wake of his first visit to Haldia in East Midnapore since the police firing and violence in Nandigram on March 14 that killed 14 people.
Pointing to the situation in Nandigram, Bhattacharjee said, "Roads are dug up, communications disrupted, transport stalled, shops and offices closed, children are unable to attend school and some examinees are unable to sit for the Madhyamik due to the abnormal situation there.
"I have been informed that panchayat offices are closed in Nandigram, lakhs of rupees for projects are tied up in files and no development work is taking place," he said.
Bhattacharjee said nearly 2,500 CPI-M supporters were still homeless in Nandigram.
"They are the people of the area. They are also human beings. How long can this situation continue in Nandigram where small incidents of violence are taking place almost every day?"
No date has been fixed for the next all-party meeting. Such meetings called on four earlier occasions -- on April 3, March 10, February 22 and 19 -- were boycotted by the opposition platform, Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee, which has been spearheading a movement since early January against the acquisition of land for a chemcical hub to be set up by Indonesia-based Salim Group.
Bhattacharjee has publicly said that the chemical hub will not be set up at Nandigram and shifted elsewhere.
The 14 people were killed on March 14 when people tried to stop police from entering villages in Nandigram.
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