M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, March 28: The district-level peace committee meeting, held till late in the evening of Monday at the Pdt Deendayal Upadhya Smriti Bhavan, ended on a consensus note that Palamu should not and must not afford to see another Panki at any of the places of the district.
DC Anjaneyulu Dodde, SP Chandan Kumar Sinha and members of the Ramnavmi Akharas of all the 21 blocks, Sri Mahavir Nav Yuvak Dal and Muharram Inteezamiya Committee attended the meeting.
Notably, the spectre of Panki loomed large over this meeting which had communally convulsed in mid-February leading to the promulgation of section 144 of the CrPC and suspension of the internet services of all service providers for 5 continuous days.
There was a vociferous demand for permission to take out Shobha Yatra on routes, not licensed to the occasion, under the garb of the expansion of the locality and population which the SP thumbed down repeating the government’s directive that there will not be any new passage of the Ramnavmi Akharas.
Additional Collector Surjit Kumar Singh comprehended the meeting and allowed Akhara members to speak out openly on the atmosphere of the Ramnavmi puja and how the other community sees it going. The Akhara members didn’t speak in any hushed tone but said how members of the other community are objecting to their Swings Yatras in the name of Madarsa and Masjid falling in the route.
The district-level peace meeting acted like a prompt court as the two top officers, the DC and the SP pronounced ‘judgement’ on the spur of the moment in an instance where members of both communities had taken the law into their hands, as a result, order for lodging FIRs against the two communities was passed on the spot.
The peace meeting helped bridge the hiatus between the two communities to a great extent that no community could complain it was not heard. Sufficient time and attention were given to each side.
