Surat peaceful on Monday

The city and district police control rooms stated on Monday evening that no festival-related incident was reported. The bandobast will however continue till Tuesday morning.

Thousands of devotees assembled at the Rander Idgah in the morning, where a special namaz was offered. People were also seen greeting each other during the day. Meanwhile, the Digambar Jain Samaj took out a procession on the Navapura Karwa Road on Monday afternoon to mark the birthday of Lord Mahavira. A number of leaders of the Digambar Jain Yuvak Sangh including Venilal Jariwala, Hitendra Chudawala, Jitu Gandhi, Shailesh Sarraiyya, Kamlesh Arbastani and others spoke on the teaching of Mahavira at the procession.

Although Hindu organisations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal had not called for the closure of all meat-serving restaurants and slaughter-houses here in Surat, the police took precautionary steps by deploying as many as 5000 security personnel, including personnel of the Rapid Action Force, SRP and Home Guards.