Temple town becomes a fortress for Y-day
GOVT ORDERS massive police deployment, neighbouring states asked to help, VHP leaders go underground
AYODHYA/LUCKNOW: Security forces on Friday conducted a route march in Ayodhya which, along with six districts falling on the route of the banned chaurasi kos yatra, were fortified as the state government made massive police deployment to check the VHP volunteers from the taking out the yatra from August 25.
The last time such tight security arrangements were made in the temple town was in September 2010, when the high court delivered the verdict on the disputed Babri MasjidRamjanamb hoomi land.
Barriers have been erected on the highways to check vehicles and frisk the people moving toward the town.
A senior state government officer said the senior VHP leaders would be taken into custody or put under house arrest. Sources put the number of such leaders at 70.
Fearing arrest, a majority of the VHP leaders based in Ayodhya, Lucknow, Faizabad, G onda, Basti, Ambedkar Nagar and neighbouring districts have gone underground. Businessmen in Ayodhya and Faizabad are feeling the heat of the situation the most, as the number of pilgrims to various Ayodhya shrines, which surged during Sawan Mela from August 9 to August 21, has fallen to a trickle now.
Campuses of ND University of Agriculture and Technology, Kumarganj, Rashtriya Vidyapeeth, Pithala and Chandra Bali Singh Degree College, Kumarganj, have been converted into temporary jails to detain those who attempt to enter the prohibited areas. Anticipating more arrests, the Faizabad administration wants to convert 20 more schools and colleges into temporary jails, said district inspector of schools Manbhawan Ram Rajbhar. So far, the state government has deployed around 25,000 security men, including Rapid Action Force (RAF), Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and civil police, to enforce the ban imposed by the state government on the yatra. The state government has already sent a letter to the central government to rush extra central paramilitary forces (CPMF). The CPMF would be deployed in the sensitive areas to maintain law and order, he said.
Director general of police Deoraj Nagar has written to the DGPs of the neighbouring districts, including Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan to pass information about the movement of the saffron brigade.
The list of the VHP, BJP and Bajrang Dal leaders whose entry has been banned by the government has been also sent to the neighbouring states. The DGPs have been also urged to share intelligence inputs regarding activities of the VHP leaders. IG (law and order) RK Vishwakarma on Friday said ten companies of RAF provided by the central government have been deployed in the six districts. He said the pilgrims visiting Ayodhya would not be harassed. The pilgrims would be allowed to visit the temple town but the VHP volunteers would be taken into custody. PANCH KOSI PARIKRAMA FROM SEPT 25-OCT 14
Even as the state government and the saffron brigade have locked horns over the chaurasi kos yatra, a Panch Kosi Parikrama is scheduled from September 25 to October 14 to mobilise support for the temple construction.