As the minister in-charge for finance Chandrima Bhattacharya today urged the Governor of West Bengal Dr C V Ananda Bose to visit Chopra following the death of four kids, Darjeeling MP Raju Bista, after interacting with the mourning people at the place of occurrence today, requested the Governor to enquire into the incident by Central agencies for strict action against those, who are allegedly jeopardising national security.

Four children have died in the landslide at the construction site of an extension project of a trench, along Indo-Bangladesh border, located at Chetnagach, under Chopra block in North Dinajpur yesterday.

The incident took place as several children were playing there.

The Trinamul Congress leader and finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharya, addressing the media, blamed the BSF for the death of four kids at Chetnagach in Chopra and urged the Governor Dr Bose to visit the spot.

Sources said, a five-member delegation of the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights is scheduled to visit the spot tomorrow.

The Trinamul Congress has constituted a delegation, comprising ministers, MLAs and MPs led by Chandrima Bhattacharya, will meet the Governor on 15 February.

On the other hand, Darjeeling MP Raju Bista said, “In this time of mourning, I urge chief minister Mamata Banerjee to stop spreading ‘fake news’ by her party leaders, and extend her support to the affected families. Immediate steps must be taken to provide the families with the necessary compensation and support they deserve, which has not been forthcoming, every time north Bengal has faced a tragic situation or natural calamity.”

“Instead of uniting in grief and seeking solutions, certain TMC leaders have opted to politicise the tragedy by baselessly blaming the BSF for the incident. The unwarranted and repeated attacks on the BSF by Mamata Banerjee and TMC leaders pose a grave threat to our national security,” Mr Bista said.

The BSF has issued a note following the death of four children.

A resident of Chetnagach, Ashirul Ali, a tea garden worker, wanted to level the outer periphery of the tea garden with earth and requested to take away the earth by digging a trench adjacent to the Indo-Bangladesh border fence, the BSF said.

According to the BSF, an anti-cattle trench is dug at vulnerable patches along the Indo-Bangladesh border fence to stop smugglers from smuggling the cattle from India into Bangladesh as cattle smuggling is a big menace on the Indo-Bangladesh border. The same has been instrumental in controlling cattle smuggling to a large extent.

Apart from the BSF, the state government also provides employment to the border population by employing them for digging anti-cattle ditch under MGNREGA project, a senior BSF official said.

“The post commander agreed to Ashirul Ali’s request as it would solve two purposes, one, provide help to him and second, by digging an anti-cattle trench, would help in stopping the menace of cattle smuggling from that area.”

“However, after the digging work was completed with the help of an excavator, some children, playing inside the trench, got buried when a side mud wall of the trench collapsed. The BSF immediately responded by sending troops for the rescue operation and also promptly provided BSF vehicles for timely evacuation of the children to hospital, however, the doctor on duty pronounced them brought dead,” the press note said.

As a representative of the Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency, encompassing Chopra, Raju Bista pledged his personal contribution of Rs 50,000 to each of the victim’s families.