Chidambaram asks CMs to be vigilant against communal violence

New Delhi, Oct 20: Voicing concern over incidents of communal violence, Home Minister P Chidambaram has asked all Chief Ministers to maintain a tight vigil and "suitably" deal with elements who provoke discord.

In a letter, the Home Minister asked the Chief Ministers to comprehensively review the situation in their respective states and identify the towns or wards or neighbourhoods which are communally sensitive and instruct police and other officials to maintain constant vigil in those areas.

"Since the period from now until the end of January 2012 is marked by a number of religious occasions as well as commemorative dates and public holidays, it is important that state governments maintain high degree of vigil so that there are no communal incidents," he said.

The Home Minister also asked the Chief Ministers to be particularly careful and watch those elements that are likely to provoke discord among different communities and trigger communal incidents and such elements "should be identified as dealt with suitably".

The Home Minister's letter comes in the backdrop of communal violence in Rajasthan's Bharatpur and Uttarakhand's Rudrapur. According to Home Ministry statistics, 53 people were killed and 1,059 injured in 338 incidents of communal violence this year till Aug.

Of these incidents, 10 people were killed on September 14 in Rajasthan's Bharatpur district while four persons lost their lives in Rudrapur town in Uttarakhand's Udhamsingh Nagar district on Oct 2.

PTI