Kolkata:
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday declared “zero tolerance” towards vandalism and attacks on police personnel, warning of the strictest legal action and asserting that if such incidents recur, “no one will be worse than me”.
The warning came a day after protests against a bulldozer drive linked to action against “illegal structures” turned violent in Kolkata’s Park Circus-Tiljala area, with demonstrators allegedly pelting stones at police personnel and vandalising vehicles, prompting Adhikari to signal what he described as the end of the era of “tied hands and feet” policing.
Addressing reporters after visiting the Park Circus Deputy Commissioner’s office and meeting police officers and injured personnel following Sunday’s violence in the minority-dominated Park Circus area, he projected a tough law-and-order stance, while drawing a sharp contrast with the “functioning” of earlier administrations.
The violence left six police personnel and two CRPF jawans injured, Adhikari said, adding that 40 people had so far been arrested and that the probe was being directly monitored by the Commissioner of Police.
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