Mamata Banerjee's charge

You refused 400 troops: Centre snubs Mamata

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Saturday strongly countered West Bengal chief ministerthat it was non-cooperative as the state tackled law and order challenges in Darjeeling and North 24 Parganas. It said the state government had returned the nearly 400 Central troops sent to it two days ago.According to home ministry sources, four companies of the BSF, comprising 400 personnel, were sent initially to assist the state police in containing the communal outbreak in Basirhat and Baduria."Around 400 more Central troops were sent two days ago but returned by the state government," said a senior home ministry official.On Darjeeling violence, the home ministry sources claimed that enough forces had been sent. Of the 1,100 troops sent so far, the state recently asked for around 100 women CRPF personnel to be withdrawn. It also asked SSB battalions deployed there to be replaced with CRPF."The home ministry finds the West Bengal government's demands inappropriate as no state can decide which Central paramilitary forces must be deployed in its territory," said an officer.Besides, the officer pointed out there were already many battalions of state's own Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) stationed in the Darjeeling hills area. "Why has the government not deployed these instead of blaming the Centre?" he asked.