The school is in the middle of nowhere and right behind is a denuded hill, beyond which is Bokaro in Jharkhand. This is Jhalda bordering Jharkhand in Purulia and marked as one of the most sensitive battlefields in West Bengal's raging war against Maoists. It's amazing that in a place that is Naxal-hit, where even cars don't reach, cellphones work.
Polling starts in Maoist-hit districts
CRPF jawans here have three kinds of weapons. SLR rifles, which hold 20 bullets; the Insas rifle, which also holds 20 bullets but can spray a number of bullets if you keep your finger on the trigger long enough and the the Carbine.
Two jawans in bulletproof vests kept vigil all of Sunday night at the school. The first major Maoist incident in West Bengal happened here when Maoists chopped off the head of a jotdar on a sacrificial altar.
In elephant and Maoist country
Belamu primary school is the election booth of a number of villages like Haksara, Kusumpikri, and Belamu.
Juben Mahato is here from his village 2 kilometres away to cast his vote. His village has no water most of summer. "The government has not built a single tubewell in our village," he says. And he is just one of the villagers in an area where the now famous arms drop happened in 1995.
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