Life returns to normal in Kolkata, army on standby

Kolkata:The army has been kept on standby as a precautionary measure in central Kolkata which witnessed large-scale violence yesterday as life returned to normal.

“The situation is totally peaceful, but as a precautionary measure the administration has decided to keep army columns on standby in the violence hit areas," Kolkata Police Commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakraborty told reporters after a high-level meeting with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

He said the army was jointly patrolling the area with the police. Asked whether night curfew would continue, he said another review meeting would be held later in the day after which a decision would be taken.

He said life in the metropolis, including the areas which witnessed violence yesterday, was normal. The police chief said 68 people were arrested in connection with yesterday’s violence while some more had been identified and would be arrested.

The army was called out in central Kolkata where large-scale violence erupted during a three-hour shutdown called by All India Minority Forum yesterday.

The violence led the authorities to clamp an eight-hour night curfew from 10:00 pm last night. The shutdown was called to demand cancellation of the visa of Bangladeshi writer Tasleema Nasreen and to protest the Nandigram violence.

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