Kandhamal returns to normalcy

Last batch of Central forces pulled out from Kandhamal
By Ratikant Mohanty
Bhubaneswar, July 1: In a significant development, the last batch of Central forces deployed in the trouble-torn Kandhamal district was withdrawn on Wednesday.
Speaking to this paper, Kandhamal district collector Krishan Kumar said four companies of CRPF (400 personnel), which were deployed in Raikia and G.Udayagiri, moved out of the district on Wednesday.
Rakia and G.Udayagir were the worst-hit in the last year’s sectarian violence in the district. “With the Wednesday’s CRPF withdrawal, the pull out exercise of all the Central forces deployed in the district was completed,” collector Mr Kumar said.
At least 52 companies of CRPF were deployed in the district after riots broke out following the killing Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, a noted Hindu seer, on August 23 last year. As many as 48 companies of para-military forces had already been withdrawn in phases in the last few months as the district slowly limped back to normalcy, the collector informed, adding, the Central forces had been replaced by Orissa State Armed Police force in sensitive areas of the district.
Around 300 people, meanwhile, on Wednesday left the relief camps opened at three places in the district to give shelter to the riot-affected families, for their villages. There are about 1200 people still living in the relief camps.
In yet another development, a Phulbani fast track court on Tuesday convicted a person for his involvement in the Kandhamal riots.
Chakradhar Mallick of Daringibari in the district, who was arrested on charges of arson and other cases, was awarded two years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,000. Mallick happens to be the first person to be convicted in a case relating to Kandhamal violence.
(Source Indus Valley Times/www.indusvalleytimes.com)