City dressed up, fear shows through

It also did not take long for the team to understand that Naroda Patiya was cleaned up by workers from Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and District Collectorate two days before their visit and the CRPF cover withdrawn on Tuesday to make things look normal.

The team, comprising Deputy Election Commissioners S. Mendiratta and A.N. Jha, Commission’s legal counsel S.K. Mendiratta and Protocol Officer S.K. Sabharwal and others, was divided into three groups and visited Shahpur, Jamalpur, Juhapura and Guptanagar camps, Gulbarg Society, Naroda Patiya, and relief camps in Ramol Jantanagar, Vatva, Isanpur and Shah Alam.

People also told the teams rehabilitation should be priority. The residents conveyed a general sense of insecurity as the CRPF personnel were withdrawn.

Siddiqbhai Mansuri, a resident of Pandit ni Chali at Naroda Patiya, said nearly 200 of the 500 who had returned home, had again fled to relief camps for fear of fresh trouble. ‘‘The government should remove the fear first, then think of elections,’’ he said.

Another resident, Mohammad Yasin Yusufbhai, said he and his neighbours had returned only a month ago but were now thinking of heading back to the relief camp if CRPF personnel are not posted.

At Shah Alam relief camp, inmates showed a general disinterest when the team visited. One of the inmates told the team that the EC should not buckle under pressure for early polls from the BJP or state government as ‘‘this will amount to gross injustice to the minority community… the atmosphere is not conducive to free and fair polls and may get recharged with the announcement of elections’’.

In Shahpur camp, inmates told the EC officials that an atmosphere of terror had again gripped them when last night, when country bombs were hurled in the area and stones thrown near Delhi chakla. They also complained of not having voter ID cards.

In the evening, the team held meetings with senior government officials including the state chief secretary and commissioner of police to apprise themselves of measures taken by the government to normalise the situation.

While Congress has formed a committee to meet the team, the nine-party alliance led by former CM Chhabildas Mehta has submitted a memo to the CEC team saying communal strife still refused to subside in Gujarat with reports of violence pouring in from places like Prantij, Viramgam, Bhavnagar, Anand and Kheda.