Godhra calm, Baroda police readies for Visarjan day
Curfew in Godhra was relaxed on Sunday afternoon as the town remained peaceful on Saturday and Sunday. The communal clashes during the Ganesh immersion processions on Friday left at least 20 injured.

Security in Baroda has been tightened up in view of the Ganesh visarjan on Tuesday.

Curfew in Godhra was relaxed on Sunday from 2 pm to 6 pm. It was later extended till 10 pm.

At least 15 miscreants involved in Friday’s communal clashes have been identified through videography. However, the Panchmahals deputy superintendent of police Ashwin Kumar Chauhan told The Asian Age, investigation about the rioters is on.

After rumours on Saturday sparked panic in Ladwada at Mandvi area in Baroda, police has been on toes with Ganesh immersion around the corner. Mobs were on the streets on Saturday and the police had to lob one teargas shell to disperse it.

The Baroda commissioner of police Sudhir Sinha along with the Baroda collector Bhagyesh Jha and other top police officials held a joint meeting with the Ganesh mandal members on Sunday to beef up security.

Addressing various mandals’ representatives, Mr Sinha appealed to them to conclude the procession of Ganesh idols before the sunset. "If the idols are immersed before the sunset, possibility of any untoward incident would be minimised," said Mr Sinha. The mohalla committee meetings are on and the friends of police have also been intimated about the security concerns.

At least 2,000 additional police officials have been called in the city to maintain law and order for next two days. "We have called in three State reserve police, two Border wing homeguards, one Border security force, one Rapid action force and four quick reaction team companies," said Mr Sinha.

"At least 700 policemen, 500 homeguards, 40 police inspectors, 35 police sub inspectors, 12 district superintendent of police cadre officials, six SP level officials and 100 other officials have been called in."

The Baroda collector Mr Jha said that the city has been divided into 22 sectors and the routes for the processions have been notified to the respective Ganesh mandals. The police patrolling would be intensified for two days. The videography in the communally sensitive areas in the walled city would be done during the processions. As per the estimation at least 2,000 idols would be immersed from Baroda city and about 2 lakh people are expected to participate in the processions.

Republished from The Asian Age