No time to point fingers at efforts of Orissa govt - Naveen

Bhubaneswar, Oct 04 (UNI) Claiming that the law and order situation in Kandhmal had improved a lot in the past few days, Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today replied to Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil's letter, stating that it was not the time to point fingers at the efforts of the state government to bring a very difficult situation under control.

Expressing unhappiness over lack of action by the Orissa government to curb violence against the minority community, Home Minister Shivraj Patil today sought a report from the Orissa government and Governor M C Bhandare about the situation in the state, indicating the possibility of imposition President's rule.

In his letter to Mr Patil, the Chief Minister said the state government had taken a number of measures to bring the situation under control in Kandhmal district.

Apart from deployment of police force in different strategic locations, the administration had arrested 305 people, who included a large number of mischief-mongers, anti-socials, criminals and members of the fundamentalist groups, Mr Patnaik said.

He further claimed that there had been no law and order situation in the district for the past three days and the number of persons in the relief camps had come down from 23,000 to about 15,000 giving an indication of an improved law and order situation in the district.

The Chief Minister said the government was trying its best to solve the complex situation with speed and sincerity.

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