The situation in communal conflict-scarred Kandhamal district seems to be slowly returning to normal, with the state Government relaxing curfew for a short period on Thursday and fewer clashes reported as compared to yesterday. So far, 70 criminal cases have been registered and 123 persons arrested for the violence in the state.“Though there is some tension in the villages, the situation is under control in seven out of the 12 blocks of the district,” Kandhamal District Collector Krishan Kumar said. With people facing difficulty in getting provisions, curfew was relaxed for three hours in the morning in some places at the district. However, Kumar added that shoot-at-sight order and curfew remained in force in some blocks as part of efforts to restore normalcy. Officials said more central forces are expected to arrive in Kandhamal. This comes in the wake of a directive from the Orissa High Court on Wednesday in which a Bench comprising Chief Justice B B Chouhan and Justice B N Mohapatra told the Government to deploy adequate forces to restore peace in Kandhamal. The HC gave this directive while adjudicating a PIL filed by Ambedkar-Lohia Vichar Manch chief Sangram Mallick, who stated that many poor and innocent people were forced to seek shelter in the nearby jungles because they were now homeless. As the frenzied violence eased somewhat, a senior police official overseeing the law and order situation told The Indian Express that villages with a majority of Christians were generally bypassed by rioters who chose to target more isolated and vulnerable pockets of the community. “It’s only the villages where they are in a minority where they have born the brunt of the mobs’ fury. In those villages the people have lost everything they had. It’s heart-rending,” he said.Meanwhile, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik remains under fire. Opposition parties in the state Assembly stalled proceedings on Thursday to register their protest of the Government’s failure to contain communal violence. CPI member Narayan Reddy demanded Naveen’s resignation saying that the Government had failed to protect the lives and property of common people.
