Relations with Bengal government unchanged: Army official

Kolkata: Notwithstanding chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s complaint about Army exercise at toll gates, a senior Army official on Monday said that its working relationship with the West Bengal government had not changed.

“We have good communication at the local level. There has been no change in our working relationship,” Eastern Command’s Major General General Staff, Maj Gen R. Nagraj told reporters here.

Earlier in the month, Ms Banerjee had accused the Centre of deploying the Army at toll plazas in West Bengal without informing the state government and described it as “unprecedented” and “a very serious situation worse than Emergency”.

The CM had refused to leave her office in Kolkata till the Armymen were withdrawn from toll plazas, and had asked whether it was an “Army coup”, drawing sharp reaction from the Centre.

Defence minister Manohar Parrikar had last week written to the chief minister expressing “deep pain” over her allegations and said it can “adversely” impact the morale of the armed forces.

Asked to comment on the allegation of collection of money by Army personnel, the Major General said that the Army is a powerful organisation and they do not tolerate such incidents. “There was no such news before us. This is against the ethos of the Indian Army,” he said.

Maj Gen Nagraj was speaking at Fort William on the Vijay Diwas celebrations.

On the Vijay Diwas celebrations, which marks the birth of Bangladesh on December 16 following the defeat and surrender of the Pakistan Army to India during the Liberation War in 1971, Mr Nagraj informed that a 72-member Bangladeshi delegation, led by its home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, would attend the programme which would get underway on December 13 with a military band concert at Prinsep Ghat.