Bhubaneswar: Orissa's riot-hit Kandhamal district continued to remain tense and thousands of people living in relief camps were expressed reluctance to return to their homes as they still feel their lives are under threat, officials said Friday.

"More than 20,000 people have been living in 18 relief camps and many of them have said they don't want to return home at this moment because they still fear a threat to their lives," a district official told IANS.

The state government had Thursday informed the Supreme Court that the situation in the region has improved considerably and that there has been no fresh violence in the state.

However, the official said the situation had not become completely normal. The district administration of Kandhamal has asked the state election commission to postpone the urban local bodies' poll in the area scheduled to be held Sep 19, he said.

"The situation is under control but in some areas, it continues to be tense," District Collector Krishan Kumar told IANS.

Communal violence erupted in Orissa after Swami Laxmananda Saraswati, a central advisory committee member of the Vishwa Hindu Parisad (VHP), and four others were shot dead by unidentified gunmen at his Jalespata Ashram in Kandhamal district Aug 23.

Police suspect Maoist rebels killed them but some Hindu groups blamed Christians for the murder and went on the rampage. Christian groups have repeatedly denied the allegation.

Since the evening of Aug 23, the state has witnessed communal violence in which 17 people, mostly in Kandhamal district, have died and thousands have been rendered homeless.

The government deployed police and paramilitary forces in 12 of the 30 districts of Orissa. The ban on gathering of five or more people has been in force in many parts of the worst hit Kandhamal district and curfew has been clamped in most of its towns.

Although the ban order is still in force across the district, thousands of women blocked several roads Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to demand release of those arrested on rioting charges.

Police have arrested at least 200 people on charges of rioting and these women, mostly tribals, often take to the streets defying prohibitory orders, Kumar said.

He added that authorities were now identifying people in relief camps whose houses have not been damaged so that they could be sent back to their homes.

"We may send 4,000-5,000 people back to their homes in a day or two," Kumar said. "We are also offering them protection if they require," he added.

"The rioters damaged everything and nothing is left. If I go back where shall I live," said 48-year-old Ramararao Naik, a resident of Nilungia village in Kandhamal.

Naik is taking shelter in a temporary relief camp at a high school at Hubback village, about 60 km from district headquarters Phulbani.

Kumar said that the administration was providing assistance to victims to re-build their houses. He said that at least 2,400 houses and 120 places of worships had been partially or fully damaged in the riots.

 

Source : ians