SURAT/AHMEDABAD, Dec 30: Barring sporadic incidents, the trouble-torn district of Dangs was largely peaceful on Wednesday.Inspector-General (Surat range) O P Mathur said no incident had been reported from any part of the district since Tuesday morning. ``Violence has been contained and there is no communal tension'', he said.
However, CNI district superintendent T V Gaikwad claimed that in Madhavbari, 25 km from the district headquarters, a chapel was damaged and in Divan Temuron village, an incident of stone throwing was reported. Both incidents took place last night, he said, adding that a case had been registered with the Ahwa police. District collector B N Joshi, too, claimed that no untoward incident had occurred in the past 40 hours. As many as 71 people had been arrested for the Christmas Day incidents, he said, adding that the deputy mamlatdar and police personnel, too, had been injured in violence in the tribal district.
Meanwhile, Mathur said he had not received any intimation about the plans of the Central team that arrived in Gandhinagar today for an ``on-the-spot'' assessment of the attacks on the minority institutions.
Mathur claimed that he was ``satisfied'' with the situation in Dangs but added that he would camp at Ahwa for another couple of days.
Meanwhile, AICC general secretary Meira Kumar and Gujarat Pradesh Congress President C D Patel today visited Dangs to ``get a first-hand account'' of the attacks on Christian institutions.
Kumar, who is in charge of Gujarat state, will submit a report to Congress president Sonia Gandhi about the incidents in Dangs, state congress vice-president Kadir Pirzada told Express Newsline.
In another development, the State police has provided security at churches in each village and officials have been asked to take preventive steps to avoid attacks in their areas.
DGP C P Singh said today that besides preventive steps, police had revamped the village visitation scheme at all the police stations where the head constables and inspectors had been directed to stay for at least 15 days at the villages under their jurisdiction.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.