Dera issue: Peace prevails in Haryana and Punjab

Chandigarh :  Life was returning to normal in Haryana and Punjab, which had witnessed violence after the conviction of the Dera Sacha Sauda chief, with educational institutions and shops reopening today and transport back on most routes in “sensitive” areas.

However, security forces continued to remain on alert in the two states. No untoward incident has been reported from anywhere after the Dera chief was sentenced by a special CBI court. The 50-year-old Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim is lodged in Sunaria jail in Rohtak district, where a thick blanket of security has been thrown around.

In Haryana, curfew now remains enforced only on the road leading to the Dera Sacha Sauda headquarter in Sirsa. Life was back to normal in Sirsa city today. The Army, paramilitary forces and police continued to be deployed at various ‘nakas’ in Sirsa city as a precautionary measure, Sirsa Deputy Commissioner, Prabhjot Singh said.

The Sirsa district administration yesterday sent 650 people from Dera Sacha Sauda to their respective destinations and apart from this, 18 girls aged upto 18 years were also taken out from the Dera after completing all legal formalities, the DC had said. Sirsa town is home to the sprawling Dera headquarters where the sect’s followers had gathered in large numbers ahead of Ram Rahim’s conviction.

Curfew had earlier been lifted from other towns of Haryana where it was imposed including Panchkula and Kaithal. Haryana Transport Minister Krishan Lal Panwar has said orders have been issued to operate buses of Haryana Roadways in all districts except Fatehabad and Sirsa. He said bus service in 16 districts had been suspended in view of the law and order situation following verdict of CBI Court in Ram Rahim case.

Bus service would be resumed in districts Fatehabad and Sirsa after the situation normalises, he said. Mobile data services were restored in Punjab, but the mobile Internet services including SMS and dongle services will remain suspended till the afternoon today in seven “sensitive” districts of Ambala, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind, Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa of Haryana, with officials saying a decision in this regard will be taken later today.

Authorities in Punjab yesterday lifted curfew from five districts where it was imposed and train services have resumed. Life in sensitive districts of Punjab including Bathinda, Patiala and Moga where there is sizeable presence of Dera followers, remained peaceful as well, officials said. The violence which broke out after Dera chief’s conviction in the rape case has left 32 people dead in Panchkula while six died in Sirsa.