Chronology of Events

28 December 2006: Chairman of Haldia Development Authority (HDA), and the CPI-M MP from Tamluk, Laxman Seth, announces the determination to establish a chemical hub in Nandigram.

2 January 2007: HDA issues a notice identifying 27 mouzas of land in Nandigram and 2 mouzas of land in Khejuri, comprising 25,000 acres of land for acquisition.

3 January 2007: Anti Land Acquisition Protestors demanded clarifications regarding the SEZ from the Kalicharanpur Panchayat Samity office. Police were called in and in the police lathi charge that followed several people were injured, and a police jeep met with accident. Roads begin to be cut and barricades are put up to prevent entry of police.

5 January 2007: Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee was formed by anti-acquisition groups like the Trinamool Congress, Congress and Socialist Unity Center of India (SUCI), and even some CPI-M people.

6 January 2007: Police camp at Bhangabera Bridge is established. But villagers see CPI-M harmad sneak into the barricaded villages.

7 January 2007: 4 BUPC supporters were killed in firing by CPI-M harmad from the house of Shankar Samanta, a CPI-M leader. In retaliation the villagers set fire to Samanta’s house and a CPI (M) camp at Baratole in Khejuri.

12 February 2007: Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, in a public meeting at Haldia stated that no land would be taken from those unwilling to give it. But the next day at a Press Conference in Tamluk Lakshman Seth said that the land mentioned in the “notice” issued by the HDA “would be acquired”.

Till 13 march 2007: BUPC barricaded villages to stop the police and CPI-M supporters from accessing them. CPI-M supporters ran away from these villages and took shelter in CPI-M party relief camp in Khejuri. Government stated that the HDA notice was a mistake, but does not give anything in writing. People get mixed signals - an economic blockade is tried on Nandigram by the CPI-M. BUPC leaders including TMC MLA, Subhendu Adhikari, sent a fax message to the Chief Minister on 13 March saying that “Police authorities have created panic among the common people of Nandigram.”

14 March 2007: BUPC supporters gathered in a peaceful assembly to show solidarity against the land acquisition for SEZ on the northern side of the Bhangabera Bridge. The district administration decided to forcibly end the BUPC blockade, and in a police action entered the barricaded villages from the Khejuri side. The police were heavily armed and as alleged by the villagers, were accompanied by at least 300 armed CPI-M cadres. They attacked the crowd without any provocation, first with tear gas and rubber bullets, then immediately following by firearms.

The police were accused of firing at the villagers indiscriminately. 14 people died, at least 85 people were hospitalized, and 200-300 were injured. Cases of rape and sexual abuse on women also were reported.

15 March 2007: Calcutta High Court passed an order on its own motion to initiate Public Interest Litigation on the 14 March police firing and called for a special inquiry into the incident by the CBI.

March 2007 to October 2007: Stalemate continued between the BUPC and CPI-M supporters. On 19^th March, the state government issued written notice of withdrawal SEZ from Nandigram, but the BUPC had lost confidence in the state and district administration as no guilty was punished and no perpetrators were arrested even after being named by the victims.

The BUPC kept up its blockade. The CPI-M claimed that about 3500 of its members and supporters had been forced to flee in this period. Police camps were established inside Nandigram at the periphery of the affected villages, but stood by idly justifying their inaction on the basis of the High Court order on 15 March.

The situation worsened when police pickets were withdrawn in late October from the peripheries and it became a free for all between the two warring factions. In the absence of police presence, CPI-M supporters closed in on the areas held by the BUPC. They fired from the Khejuri side at a rally of BUPC supporters who were on their way from Nandigram to Tekhali on 30^th Octber.

1 to 5 November 2007: The CPI-M continued its barrage on the BUPC held villages in the attempt to ‘recapture’ them. Huge arms were amassed at Bhangabera, Tulaghata, Tekhali Bazaar, Takapura, Kamalpur, and Reyapara. The first barrage started from the Khejuri side BUPC also took to arms to defend their areas from the onslaught.

6 November 2007: Nine villages were torched by the CPI-M harmad. Armed cadres entered Satengabari, Ranichowk, Brindabanchowk, Bhangabera, Sonachura, Jambari, Rainagar, Simol Kundu and Kanungo Chowk. The villagers fled their homes and amassed into relief camps at Nandigram town.

7 November 2007: Permanent police picket on the strategic Tekhali Bridge in Nandigram removed. Armed CPI-M harmad crossed the Talpati canal and stormed several villages. The CPI-M formed camps at Reyapara, Mograjpur, Sashigunge Bazaar, and several other places on both sides of the Chandipur-Nandigram Road to seal off Nandigram.

9 November 2007: The SP, DM and BDO of the East Medinipore district were notified about a peace meeting to be held by the BUPC on November 10 at Sonachura.

10 November 2007: The meeting by the BUPC was attacked by the CPI-M cadres. Many BUPC supporters were kidnapped to Khejuri. The district administration, even after being notified about the peace meeting, did not take any step to stop the assault. In fact, the police even lathi-charged on the assemblers.

11 November 2007: The CPI-M based camps at Maheshpur and subdued the last few vestiges of struggle by the villagers, and ‘liberated’ the area. The villagers called it “gram dakhal”.

12 November 2007: With the villages ‘recaptured’ by the CPI-M, overt violence ceases in the area. The CRPF was deployed and established camps at Nandigram.