Bihar had witnessed a series of communal clashes and violence during March and April around the time of Ram Navami this year
With Moharram at hand and Durga Puja round the corner, the Government of Bihar has pulled up its socks to ensure that no untoward incidents happen and the festivals are observed smoothly across the state.
A high level meeting of Bihar Chief Secretary (CS) Deepak Kumar and Director General of Police (DGP) K S Dwivedi with police captains and district magistrates (DM) of all 38 districts of Bihar took place on Wednesday, where the senior officials took stock of the preparations made for the festivals in every district.
"A general alert has been sounded across the state and cops have been asked to remain vigilant and be on the lookout for antisocial elements trying to disrupt peace and harmony. Around a dozen of the 38 district of Bihar have been identified as sensitive and the respective Superintendent of Police (SP) have been asked to deploy extra cops during the festive season," said a source privy to the proceeding of the meeting.
The meeting was following the directives of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who had asked the CS, DGP and principal secretary of state home department to interact with the officials in the districts and sensitise them about the matter. Kumar had expressed concern over rise in communal incidents at places which were not earlier identified as "sensitive" and had said that DMs and SPs should also interact with peace committee members in their districts. He had also directed for working towards ensuring speedy trial in these incidents.
Bihar had witnessed a series of communal clashes and violence during March and April around the time of Ram Navami this year, following which the state machinery is alert to avoid any such incident in future. Among the worst affected were Nawada, Gaya, Siwan and Aurangabad and prohibitory orders had to be put in place to bring the situation under control at some places.
Keeping that in view, the other directives issued by the state government include ban of taking out Muharram procession without getting a license for it and no use of DJs during the processions. Some district administration such as Patna have issued separate directives which include flag march by Rapid Action Force and monitoring at the level of local police station using WhatsApp groups regarding the festivals.
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