Will do bit if Didi cuts Maoist ties: Buddha to PC

NEW DELHI: West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Wednesday said he had agreed with the Centre to “disarm all armed groups” in the state including those in Jangalmahal, which included a reference to his own party cadres. The CM was in the capital to meet home minister P Chidambaram and discuss ways to stop the spiral of violence in the state. He also met PM Manmohan Singh.

“The home minister requested the chief minister to take action against armed cadres,” a home ministry statement said after the meeting.

Addressing a press conference , the CM unleashed an attack on rival Trinamool Congress and accused Mamata Banerjee’s party of joining hands with Maoists in the state. “I told the home minister that he should tell them ( TMC) in no uncertain terms that they must dissociate with the Maoists,” Buddha said.

The CM said he had submitted evidence of direct links between TMC and Maoists. A 14-page note on the issue was also released to the media.

The CM, however, admitted to CPM cadres indulging in violence and killings, when he said, “I agreed with the home minister that the recent incident in Netai village was very unfortunate. We will ensure that such incidents do not recur .” He did not deny a suggestion that even Left cadres were armed in “some areas” .

Bhattacharjee said Trinamool earlier had “secret contacts ” with Maoists and gave them “covert support,” but now everything “is in the open” . “They are openly and directly associating with Maoists to foment trouble there. We have confirmed it from different sources, including those Maoists leaders who have been arrested recently ,” he added.
Trinamool, Maoists and their front organizations were holding joint public meetings, including two in the recent past, the CM said, adding that some TMC leaders were caught recently escorting Maoists, injured in encounters with joint forces, for medical treatment in Orissa.

Bullets greet EC team in Bengal


Alleged CPM cadres opened fire in Sunia near Nandigram on Wednesday, just when Election Commission observers were about to enter the village. Sunia is a CPM stronghold from where armed cadres had launched an attack in Sept 2010 to reclaim Khejuri from TC. TNN



Kounteya Sinha

The deadly Crimea Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) virus, that kills around 40% of those it infects, is present in all parts of India except Jammu & Kashmir.

Virus with 40% fatality rate sneaks into India, kills 3

NEW DELHI: The deadly Crimea Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) virus, that kills around 40% of those it infects, is present in all parts of India except Jammu & Kashmir.

However, the virus noted by the Union health ministry as "a bio-safety level IV agent" has been present only in animals whom it does not infect. Bio-safety level IV implies a virus being the most dangerous type. According to WHO's latest map on the geographic distribution of CCHF, " virological or serological evidence and vector presence of CCHF" is universally present across India except J&K.

However, for the first time in India, infection caused by this virus has been reported in humans in Gujarat. Known to be transmitted among animals through ticks, the virus has till now killed three people in the state. Speaking to TOI, director-general of the Indian Council of Medical Research Dr V M Katoch said, "Research done by National Institute of Virology, Pune, found the virus in animals in several parts of India including Rajasthan. Antibodies against the virus were clearly identified. However, humans have never got infected in India. Natural cycle of this virus is from animal to animal."

Calling the human cases "accidental hosts", Dr Katoch said, "We have to just ensure that the injections used on those infected, or their urine, hospital wards, beds and clothes are properly isolated as it can be contagious only for those in contact with such substances." Dr Katoch, however, said that "maybe infections by CCHF have been happening and has not been picked up till now. It was just by chance that NIV was contacted by alert state doctors and CCHF was diagnosed. The expert team must find its source." The ministry report with TOI, says, "There is serological evidence of this infection being present in India in animals who do not get the disease."

The health ministry received a report from the NIV director on January 18 on the lab investigation of clinical samples of a nurse admitted in Shalby hospital, Ahmedabad, with high grade fever, nausea and vomiting. She was admitted in the same hospital on December 31, 2010 and died on January 3, 2011, of heavy bleeding and multi-organ failure. The attending doctor had also died with the similar sickness. NIV carried out molecular tests for a variety of haemorrhagic fever agents like Nipah, CCHF, KFD, HANTA, Ebola, Marburg and Thottapalayam.