Kolkata: Situation peaceful

Army and police jointly patrolled violence-hit areas in central Kolkata on Friday as the city remained peaceful for second day after having plunged into turmoil during Wednesday's shutdown call by a Muslim oufit seeking expulsion of controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen and protesting against the Nandigram incidents.

Four columns of army, comprising 360 personnel, conducted flag march and jointly patrolled Moulali, Mullickbazar, Ripon Street, Park Circus, Topsia, Beniapukur and adjacent areas with city police throughout Thursday night, Police Commissioner Goutam Mohan Chakraborty told PTI.

He said no incident was reported from the areas and there were no arrests. Earlier, nearly 70 persons were taken into custody in connection with the violence.

To a question, he said since Friday morning army had been kept on a stand by and city police would soon review the entire situation and apprise higher authorities in the state.

"The state government will take a final decision on how long the army will stay and whether it is to be withdrawn in phases," the top cop said.

Some schools, closed on Thursday in the affected areas, were slated to reopen and small shops, located in the interior of the violence-hit areas, also began normal business on Friday morning, he said, adding life in the affected areas was fast returning to normal.

The army was called out to stage a flag march on the streets of central Kolkata on Wednesday afternoon after large-scale violence during a three-hour shutdown called by the minority group.

The violence led the state authorities to clamp an eight-hour night curfew in the violence-hit areas from 10 pm on Wednesday night, which was lifted following improvement in the situation on Thursday.