Curfew in Khargone on Eid as town struggles to move on

So far, the administration has been relaxing the curfew for a few hours each day, depending on the situation.

“There will be no relaxation of any kind in Khargone city on Tuesday…. Eid prayers will be done at home,” the district administration said in a statement on Monday. The decision has been taken with the consent of people from all communities, the administration stated.

Khargone district collector Anugraha P told The Indian Express that curfew is being relaxed from 8 am to 5 pm or 10 am to 5 pm every day to enable people to buy essentials and carry out other work. “We have distributed relief amount of about Rs 1 crore to people who were injured and their properties burnt during the violence. Without any discrimination, the relief money has been distributed to 122 affected people from Hindu and Muslim communities.”

People whose properties were burnt and those who wanted to move have been shifted to other places so that they can restart their life, she said.

The administration has also organised mohalla peace committee meetings in the city as part of confidence-building measures, the DC said. Local politicians and community leaders are participating in all peace committee meetings, she said.

Congress MLA from Khargone Ravi Joshi said peace committee meetings are being held to restore confidence. However, he pointed at the “confusion” over curfew relaxation hours: “Earlier, it was said that there would be a complete curfew in the city on May 2 (Monday), but now relaxation has been given from 10 am to 5 pm.”

BJP leader Balkrishna Patidar, who lost to Joshi in the last Assembly polls, said tension has reduced in the last few days and the situation is improving. “Things are getting back to normal but there is some anger among some people,” he said. “We are looking at reducing this anger, help victims and ensure distribution of compensation.”

Meanwhile, the district administration has made place additional security arrangements ahead of Eid.

The district collector said around 1,000 additional police personnel, including 300 Rapid Action Force personnel, have been stationed in the city since April 10.