Kolkata: Amidst police's heavy arrangements, Lefts to hold 'March to Nabanna' today

According to party reports, at least five rallies, which are scheduled to start at 1 pm, from several locations in Kolkata and its twin city Howrah, including Rani Rasmoni Road, Kidderpore and PTS near Race Course ground in Kolkata and Howrah Rail Museum and Santragachi in Howrah city, will head towards Nabanna.

As a rally to Nabanna, held by the same organizations on Aug 27 in 2015, suddenly went violent and several Left protesters, party leaders and policemen were injured due to the clash, city police have made tight arrangements to avoid any untoward situation today.

A senior official of Kolkata police told IBNS that as many as 2000 cops along with Rapid Action Force and combat force and several top officials of the city police will be deployed today to maintain law and order.

"We will stop the rallies before those reach 144 zones by setting up barricades and we have arranged water canons and tear shell launchers to disperse protesters if they try to make any violence," the official said.

Meanwhile, the rallies, where a huge mass gathering is expected, are likely to throw city's traffic out of gear today.

"We are expecting that traffic in central part of the city will be disrupted or partly disrupted due to the rallies today," a Kolkata Traffic Police official told IBNS.

"We will avert traffic when needed and update all information regarding this on our official Facebook and Twitter pages," the officer added.

CPI-M state secretary Surya Kanta Mishra told IBNS, "Our rallies will hit the door of Nabanna today with our demands. We have directed our comrades to be prepared for any situation."

Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will not be there at Nabanna during the protest march as she will be hosting an administrative review meeting in Birbhum district today.

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)