ALERT IN COOCHBEHAR

Assam shadow on Cooch Behar

 

COOCH BEHAR, Oct. 31: All the police stations in Cooch Behar district and adjoining areas have been alerted after yesterday's serial explosions in neighbouring Assam. Several wounded persons were brought to MJN Hospital from Assam yesterday and later a few of them were referred to North Bengal Medical College and Hospital considering their serious condition.

 

Security arrangements have been beefed up along the Assam-West Bengal border and also along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Cooch Behar district and Alipurduar in Jalpaiguri district. Motor vehicles even motorbikes passing through the state border are being strictly checked by securitymen. A long queue of stranded Assam bound lorries loaded with goods were found at Baxirhat near the state border. The truck drivers are found hesitant about entering Assam to deliver the goods they brought in from outer states. Only a few inter-state passenger buses are plying through the border. Trains are however running though with fewer passengers.

 

It is believed that the yesterday's Assam incident may exert a fear psychosis on the Raas Mela of Cooch Behar. The 198th year Raas Mela of Cooch Behar is scheduled to begin on 13 November. It will continue for a fortnight. All efforts will be taken to make this biggest fair of north Bengal a grand success and also a peaceful event, said Cooch Behar Sadar SDO Mr Jayanta Maity. To add additional dimension to the security measures a few watchtowers will be erected fitted with close-circuit TV cameras. Plainclothesmen will also be there in and around the fairground to keep vigil on suspicious persons, he added.

 

Mentionworthy, devotees and visitors come in large number to witness the Raas Yatra of Lord Madan Mohan and the Raas Mela every year from Assam and other northeast states. []