Rourkela: Armed police personnel are camping between two villages, around 26km from here, to maintain law and order following a flare-up during Holi celebrations.
"We have formed a peace committee with seniors of both Coaldafei and Haldiadafei villages to prevent the situation from going out of hand," said Biramitrapur police station inspector-in-charge D.P. Das.
One Bijay Nag of Coaldafei visited Haldiadafei on Friday morning to celebrate Holi. There, allegedly without her consent, Nag started putting colours on a woman.
This led to a minor scuffle between the two and in it, a bit of her clothes was torn. This led to escalation of tension.
Nag escaped from the scene following which the residents of Haldiadafei village, along with the woman, came to Biramitrapur police station to lodge a complaint. At the same time, the villagers of Coaldafei also came in strength to protest.
There, Nag was caught by the villagers of Haldiadafei and was assaulted right in front of the police station.
"We tried to stop them and asked them to settle the issue, but they did not listen to us," said inspector Das, adding that the situation soon went out of control and both sides started fighting. "Finding no way out, the police resorted to a mild baton-charge to disperse the crowd."
The Haldiadafei villagers tried to block the NH-143 in protest. Das said: "After that they dispersed from the scene, additional forces were mobilised to take care of the situation."
The peace committee was formed on Saturday morning consisting of members both Haladiadafei and Coaldafei villages. "There will be some festivals in coming days such as Ram Navami and for that, we have formed the committee," said Das.
The inspector in charge also said the police had received complaint from both sides. "The peace committee will look into and try to settle any tension arising from current situation," said the officer, adding that in case the situation went beyond the peace committee's control, only then the police would intervene.