Bhangar will be the 10th division of Kolkata Police. The development comes months after the chief minister had asked Kolkata Police chief to bring Bhangar under its jurisdiction. “We want to start with four police stations and a traffic guard at the earliest. The rest will follow,” said the senior police officer overseeing arrangements for the new police division.

In July last year, the chief minister had asked the Kolkata Police chief to bring Bhangar under its jurisdiction. She had directed Police Commissioner Vineet Goel to form a separate division of Kolkata Police in Bhangar. “On Saturday night, police batons, walkie-talkies, helmets and other police equipment arrived at these four police stations. A Deputy Commissioner-ranked official is supervising everything,” a source said.

Bhangar is represented by Nawsad Siddique, the lone MLA of the Indian Secular Front (ISF) in the Assembly. Known to be an ISF stronghold, Bhangar is located close to Kolkata’s Rajarhat-New Town suburb.It has 19 gram panchayats and saw massive violence during the July 8 panchayat elections. The violence resulted in six deaths in the wake of clashes between the workers of the ruling Trinamool Congress and the ISF.

In the panchayat polls, the ISF maintained its hold in Bhangar by picking many seats in several gram panchayats in the area, even as the TMC swept the polls across the state.

Recently, former TMC MLA Arabul Islam wrote to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleging that the ISF “had conspired to kill his son Hakimul Islam”. Arabul had also claimed that he will approach the state government for security.

Bhangar MLA Nawsad, however, rejected the allegations. According to him, Arabul was “opting for these strategies to stay relevant”. “The law and order situation in Bhangar is going to be a big challenge. The area will need close surveillance under direct supervision of senior police officials,” said a senior police officer who was earlier posted in Bhangar.

Another police officer said, “The geographical position of Bhangar is also very important as it is at the junction of three districts — Kolkata and North and South 24 Parganas. So the control of Bhangar is very important for various quarters including a political party.”