Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday accused the Centre of deploying the Army at toll plazas in Bengal without informing the State government.
The Army had been deployed at Palsit in Bardhaman and Dankuni in Hooghly districts, she told a hurriedly convened press conference in the State Secretariat.
However, the Defence spokesperson in Kolkata, Wing Commander S.S. Birdi, said it was a “routine exercise” and State governments were always intimated about such exercises.
At least half-a-dozen vehicles marked ‘Military Police’ were stationed at the toll tax counter on the Bidyasagar Setu, connecting Kolkata to Howrah, on Wednesday. Dozens of Army personnel were seen checking the vehicles entering Kolkata.
Ms. Banerjee questioned the intentions of the Central government. “Those who protect our country from external enemies have no political agenda. But now they are being used for political vendetta,” she said. The Chief Minister wondered whether “an emergency” had been declared in the country. “This is a very serious situation... I will raise the matter with the President,” she said. The State’s Chief Secretary had been instructed to lodge a protest with the Centre, she said.
Ms. Banerjee said she would not leave the Secretariat till the Army was withdrawn from the toll plaza in front of it.
“The Secretariat is a sensitive zone and toll plaza is a sensitive place. Why is the Army here? Whatever reason they are giving is not correct. They are lying. They are changing their reasons from time to time. The MHA has complete data of the vehicles moving in different States,” she said.
Annual exercise: Army
In a statement, Wing Commander S.S. Birdi described the monitoring of vehicles as an “annual... three-day exercise” conducted throughout the county to get data on load carriers.
“Vehicles are stopped to get basic parameters like make and load capacity. They are then marked so that the next checkpoint knows they have already been checked. There is nothing alarming about this and it is carried out in accordance with government orders.”
Wing Commander Birdi said the exercise provided “an estimate of the number of vehicles that pass through a certain area.”
(With PTI inputs)
