Orissa limps back to normalcy after communal violence

Bhubaneswar, Sep 1 : Orissa is limping back to normalcy as all academic institutions are opened on Monday in the Phulbani sub-division of the state's Kandhamal District.

In the Baliguda sub-division, schools and colleges are expected to start after two to three days.

According to official sources, the deployment of eleven companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), three companies of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) and 26 platoons of the State Armed Police would continue to infuse confidence among the public. Two helicopters are also being sent by the Centre to assist in force mobilisation and relief operations.

After three days curfew, the Jeypore town of Koraput District is slowly returning to normalcy. Curfew was relaxed for 10 hours in Kandhamal District on Friday.

Hundreds of Christians, who fled their villages and took shelter in forests to save their lives and whose houses and properties were torched in the violence, have started to move to government shelter camps and to their villages, sources said.

The violence started after the killing of a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and five of his associates in the district on August 23.

As the situation improved, about 5,000 people were accommodated in relief camps set up at seven places in Kandhamal and free kitchens were opened, a senior district official told reporters.

Police protection was being provided at relief camps and magistrates deployed at all sensitive places. Altogether 85 criminal cases, including 11 in Kandhamal district, relating to murder, arson and rioting were registered across the state.

In the violence-hit areas such as Udaygiri, Raikia, K Nuagaon, Balliguda, Phiringia, Tikabali and Chakapada hundreds of people are moving in to relief camps, seeking shelter, food and water.

Meanwhile, a group of intellectuals, academicians, human rights activists and students organised a candlelight vigil in Bangalore against the increasing violence in Orissa on Friday.

ANI