Kolkata Police, Army spar on Twitter over deployment of forces at toll plazas

The series of reply from the state forces on Twitter came minutes after the Army's Eastern Command said that the state police had been informed before positioning the army jeeps.

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The online spat between the state and the Army's Eastern Command over the deployment of forces at toll plazas turned murkier on Thursday night with Kolkata Police claiming that the army was positioned despite it's refusal due to security reasons and traffic inconvenience.

"Army exercise at toll plaza was objected to in writing by Kolkata Police, citing security reasons & traffic inconvenience," Kolkata Police tweeted.

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In addition, the West Bengal Police tweeted:

Adding to information, they mentioned the areas where the forces have been deployed that included, Jamboni, Kharagpur, Darjeeling, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, Barrackpore , Murshidabad, Burdwan, Hooghly and Howrah.

The series of reply from the state forces on Twitter came minutes after the Army's Eastern Command said that the state police had been informed before positioning the army jeeps.

Refuting these claims, chief minister Mamata Banerjee accused the army of misleading the public.

Earlier, while addressing the media at the state secretariat Nabanno, the chief minister accused the Centre of creating a situation "worse than Emergency", by stationing the army personnel across the state. Mamata even refused to return home and remain in her office to 'guard our democracy' till the Army left.

The CM also said that the move by the Centre was an attack on the federal system and she is likely to approach the President to discuss the issue.

"It is an attack on the federal structure. We want to know the details. The Chief Secretary is writing to the Centre. Given an opportunity I will talk to the President on the issue. Has Emergency been imposed in the country without declaration?" she asked.

DEREK O'BRIEN SAYS

Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien corroborated the party supremo's concerns and asked if the Centre had imposed a 'General Emergency' apart from 'Financial Emergency'.

ARMY CLEARS THE AIR

In its statement, the Army said, "The Army conducts an annual exercise throughout the county with the aim of getting statistical data about load carriers that could be made available in case of a contingency. For this purpose, vehicles are spotted to get basic parameters like make load capacity. The vehicle is then marked so that the next checkpoint knows that the vehicle had already been checked for the parameters. There is nothing alarming about this and it is carried out as per government orders".