The centeral review committee along with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik reviewing the Kandhamal issue at secretariat on Wednesday.
Horoscope Today
Opinion Poll
Bhubaneswar (Orissa): After visiting the trouble torn-district Kandhamal, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday urged the state Government to form peace committees at village and panchayat level. He also said that the head of villages and local should be involved in the peace process.
“The committee would help in restoring peace at the grassroot level,” Pawar added.
“We need to provide them confidence,” he said, adding that the people should feel that their life and property was fully protected. He also asked the State Government to start employment generation under the NREGA programme.
He was leading a Central team to Kandhamal on the direction of the Union Cabinet. The Central team comprised Tribal Affairs Minister PR Kyndiah and Social Justice Minister Meira Kumar.
Terming the situation in Kandhamal as ‘tense’, he said efforts were being taken to restore normalcy in the district. He also urged the people not to observe a State-wide bandh on December 25 on the Christmas Day.
After the review meeting at state secretariat power said that the team have requested the Chief Minister to make efforts to stop such a bandh on December 25.
Disapproving of the December 15 deadline given by the Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati Shradhanajali Samiti to nab the killers of VHP leader Laxamanananda Saraswati, Pawar urged the State Government should take steps to nab the culprits who had perpetrated the heinous crime by killing the 86-year-old VHP monk.
Narrating the current situation in Kandhamal, he said people belonging to the minority community were afraid of returning from the relief camps to the villages and tribals were not willing to return fearing police excesses. Agricultural activities had been hit hard, he said.
Meanwhile, the State Government also admitted that ‘calm’ was yet to return in three of the 12 blocks in the tribal-dominated district. “Raikia, G Udaygiri and Tikabali blocks are not yet as calm as it should be,” said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik
Supporting Pawar’s observation of not going for a State bandh on December 25, he said any bandh on that day would lead to future disturbances. “We are working wholeheartedly for bringing back normalcy in all parts of the district,” he said.
