It's distressing, painful to hear stories of people in Muzaffarnagar: RPN Singh

Minister of State for Home RPN Singh on Monday said it is extremely distressing and painful to hear the stories that the people told Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi during their visit to riot-hit Muzaffarnagar district in Uttar Pradesh.

Singh, however, refused to comment on remarks made by BJP leaders on the Prime Minister’s visit to Muzaffarnagar

“We had to wait for normalcy to return and normalcy is returning there. We went to share the pain and anguish of the people in those camps and the other people who are living in the villages to hear a first hand account of what actually happened in Muzaffarnagar,” said Singh.

“It is extremely distressing and painful to hear the stories that the people told the Prime Minister, the UPA chairperson and Mr. Rahul Gandhi. How they have lost complete faith in the state administration,” he added.

Singh said there seems to be some kind of peace that is prevailing in the riot-hit areas after the army and paramilitary forces were called in

“All the people that we spoke to in Muzaffarnagar spoke about political parties trying to whip up communal passion during the election year and that is something they all said should not happen. And this is not model of development I think that this country or Uttar Pradesh needs,” he added.

The Prime Minister, who visited the clashes-affected areas of Bassi Kalan, Taawli and Barvala earlier in the day, said the perpetrators of Muzaffarnagar violence will be given strict punishment

Dr. Singh also assured the Centre’s full support to the Akhilesh Yadav-led Uttar Pradesh Government in tackling the situation arising out of the Muzaffarnagar violence

“I, Soniaji and Rahul Gandhi have come here to join you in your pain and sorrow and to make an assessment of the incident. This is a very tragic incident,and whoever is responsible for this, must be duly punished. It is the duty of the government to safeguard life and property so that people can once again settle in their homes,” Dr. Singh told media at Bassi Kalan.

“The Centre will fully support the U P Government. And, in addition, our efforts will be to ensure that strict action is taken against all those responsible for the riot,” he added

Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, who accompanied the Prime Minister on his visit, interacted with a number of victims and consoled them.

Minister of State for Home R.P.N. Singh and Uttar Pradesh Governor B.L. Joshi were also present

The Prime Minister had earlier talked to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and condemned the violence

Expressing his grief and shock over the loss of innocent lives, Dr. Singh had assured Chief Minister Yadav that the Centre will extend all required assistance to the state government in tackling the situation

The visit of the Congress top brass to Muzaffarnagar comes a day after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav visited the riot-hit district and ssured people that strict action will be taken against those responsible for the disturbances

He also said that one family member of those killed would be given a government job.

The Chief Minister has already sanctioned 10 lakh rupees of relief for the families of those killed

Meanwhile, the situation in the affected areas of the state is limping back to normal. The curfew relaxation in the city areas of Muzaffarnagar continued for the seventh day today. While day curfew has been lifted, it will continue during the night.

People are out of their houses performing routine work during the curfew relaxation period. Schools and colleges today reopened after a week

Scores of senior officials, including Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Arun Kumar and others, are constantly camping in trouble-hit Muzaffarnagar.

The Uttar Pradesh Government has constituted a one-member judicial commission to probe the Muzaffarnagar violence, which has claimed over 40 lives

The commission, which would mainly look into administrative lapses, if any, in controlling the violence, would submit its report to the government within two months.

Violence broke out in the Kawal area of Muzaffarnagar earlier this month when members of a community returning from a panchayat meeting in Naglabadhod, three kilometres from Kawal, clashed with members of another community. (ANI

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