Bhubaneswar, April 15: The state today claimed that the law and order situation in communally-sensitive Kandhamal district had been normal for over a year now and the progress of developmental activities was satisfactory.
“There has been no communal violence in the district for one-and-a-half years,” said Kandhamal collector Krishan Kumar.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik recently reviewed the law and order situation and the implementation of special package announced in September 2008 for the riot-ravaged district. Naveen had appointed senior IAS officer M.S. Padhi as special commissioner to monitor the implementation of the package.
Padhi told reporters today that Rs 64 crore had been utilised in Kandhamal under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme during 2009-10, which constitutes 57 per cent of the total outlay against the state average of 24 to 25 per cent.
Pattas for 30,000 acres of forest land were being distributed among tribals under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, he said. “The administration had registered 966 fake ST certificate cases out of which 140 have been disposed. Eight government employees have been dismissed for furnishing fake certificates,” said Padhi.
Cornering of reservation benefits by Dalit Christians by furnishing fake ST certificates had been one of the major factors behind the ethno-communal strife in Kandhamal.
The district had witnessed violence that left 38 persons (mostly Christians) dead, while houses and places of worship were damaged in the carnage following the murder of VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his associates at Jalespeta ashram in 2008.
More than 25,000 riot victims had fled their homes out of fear and stayed in relief camps.
The communal violence had caused international concern and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described the riots as a “national shame”.
The situation was normalised in October 2008, with the joint intervention of central para military forces and state police.
