Last year, the 200th anniversary was marred by communal clashes in which one person was killed and several others injured. Nearly two lakh peopled had visited the victory pillar in 2018.
Braving the harsh winter, over eight lakh people visited the 'Jay Stambh' memorial at Bhima-Koregaon in Pune district to pay tributes on the 201st anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle amidst heavy police security.
Last year, the 200th anniversary was marred by communal clashes in which one person was killed and several others injured. Nearly two lakh peopled had visited the victory pillar in 2018.
The 'Jay Stambh' memorial was erected by the British in Perne village in the district for the soldiers killed in the Bhima-Koregaon battle on January 1, 1818, which has attained legendary stature in Dalit history.
To avoid any untoward incident this year, nearly 5,000 police personnel, 1,200 Home Guard jawans, 12 companies (comprising around 100 personnel each) of the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) and 2,000 Dalit volunteers were deployed in and around Perne village. As a precautionary measure, Internet and SMS services were suspended from night in Bhima-Koregaon and adjoining villages. Besides large-scale police deployment, 500 CCTV cameras, 11 drone cameras and 40 video cameras monitored the area, a senior police officer said on Tuesday morning. "Internet services in and around Perne village have been suspended," special inspector general of police Vishwas Nangre-Patil said.
Several politicians, including minister of state for home Deepak Kesarkar, Union Minister Ramdas Athavale and Ambedkarite leader Prakash Ambedkar paid their tributes to the martyrs. Prakash Ambedkar, president of Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh paid tributes at the victory pillar and lashed out at the state government the heavy police presence in the area. "The heavy police presence is unnecessary creating fear among the visitors," Ambedkar said.
Unlike last year, this year, villagers co-operated with the district administration. Shopkeepers kept their shops open so that visitors could buy food and water. Rupesh Thombre, sarpanch of Perne Gram Panchayat said that he wanted to send a positive message to the society. "There are no differences in the community. Last year's incident was an isolated case," Thombre said.
Anticipating huge crowds from Pune and Ahmednagar, the Pune rural police had diverted the vehicular traffic of the state highway from Monday midnight itself. The cops also stopped all private vehicles nearly five kilometres away from the 'Jay Stambh' (victory pillar).
Anant Meshram, a visitor from Nagpur said it took the administration an incident of riot to swing into action. "Things like transportation to the memorial, food and water was not there last year," he said.
Among the lakhs of visitors, mainly Dalits, there were many youngsters who visited the victory pillar for the first time. Ajay Sonkamble, a youth from Osmanabad said that he and his friends had come out of curiosity.
Additional superintendent of police Sandeep Pakhale said that there was no incident of violence.
(With Agency Inputs)
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To avoid any untoward incident this year, nearly 5,000 police personnel, 1,200 Home Guard jawans, 12 companies (comprising around 100 personnel each) of the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) and 2,000 Dalit volunteers were deployed in and around Perne village. As a precautionary measure, Internet and SMS services were suspended from night in Bhima-Koregaon and adjoining villages. Besides large-scale police deployment, 500 CCTV cameras, 11 drone cameras and 40 video cameras monitored the area, a senior police officer said on Tuesday morning. "Internet services in and around Perne village have been suspended," special inspector general of police Vishwas Nangre-Patil said.
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