Step up vigil at places of worship: DGP D Gautam Sawang

Vijayawada: Director General of Police (DGP) D Gautam Sawang has asked the police to involve the local stakeholders to maintain peace, law and order and communal harmony in the State and ensure that the management committees of the places of worship install CC cameras and provide adequate lighting.

The DGP has asked the police to step up vigil near the holy places by arranging night beats. He conducted videoconference with the police officials in the State on Sunday and discussed the measures taken by the police to ensure communal harmony, protection of the places of worship and other issues in view of the chariot getting burnt at Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple at Antarvedi in East Godavari district recently.

The DGP instructed the officials for the geo-tagging of all places of worship by September 16 and asked them to hold discussions with the stakeholders to sort out differences on the holy places.

He said some vested interests may flare up communal tensions in the State taking advantage of accidents or some incidents related to religion and places of worship. The DGP has recalled that during the course of investigation, the police noticed gross negligence of the temple administration at Antarvedi in maintenance of the temple and chariot.

The DGP said the police must ensure strict implementation of the Public Safety Act and work in co-ordination with the stakeholders, peace committees and others to protect communal harmony in the State. Sawang has made it clear that persons or organisations, who install an idol, construct the temples, church or mosque or arrange a religious symbol must take responsibility for its maintenance.

The DGP said there is a scope for giving communal colour to the offences committed by habitual and petty offenders like temple offenders, who rob hundi collections from the temples and asked the police to be highly vigilant in such cases and incidents.

Police officials who participated in the video conference on Sunday said they had collected the details of all chariots, churches, mosques, temples and other places of worship in the State and were asking the managements of the committees to take measures for their protection.

They said that in case of big temples, they were conducting mock drills to get prepared to face any eventuality.

In areas like Tirupati and Kurnool where temples are located in the hilly areas, the police said they had been working in co-ordination with the fire services and other departments for safety of the temples, chariots etc. Some police officials said treasure hunt was very common in their districts and informed the DGP that they would keep vigil on the habitual offenders.

The police officials informed the DGP on the list of churches, temples, mosques and chariots in their respective districts and that they had been working out to ensure safety of the places of worship.