The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Wednesday, March 6, 2002, Chandigarh, India

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Godhra inquiry to cover riots too: CM
Prashant Sood
Tribune News Service

Ahmedabad, March 5
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today said that the judicial inquiry being held into the Godhra incidents would also look into the post-Godhra riots. “The inquiry will be in toto,’’ he told The Tribune here. He said that the government would soon come out with a notification about the inquiry.

Union Home Minister L. K. Advani had said in Ahmedabad that Godhra and post-Godhra incidents were two different issues. He had, however, said that it was for the state government to take a final decision on the issue of inquiry.

Giving reasons for state government’s decision about giving different compensation to the victims of Godhra incidents and those killed in riots afterwards, Mr Modi said that while Godhra was an act of terrorism, the violence afterwards was communal frenzy.

The state government has announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for Godhra victims and Rs 1 lakh for those killed in riots. The state government has also announced that the injured would be paid compensation between Rs 2,000 and Rs 50,000 and a similar amount would be paid in cases where property had been damaged.

Meanwhile, there was some scaling down of violence in the state with seven killings reported from different places. The death toll increased to 572 with recovery of more bodies. Over 150 shops were burnt in three tehsils of Vadodra district today morning while 30 shops were burnt in Vijaynagar area of Sabarkantha yesterday night,sources said.

Damaged mosques to be rebuilt
Tribune News Service

A Hindu (L) consoles a crying Muslim during a rally for communal harmony in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. — Reuters photo

Ahmedabad, March 5
One of the most bizarre aspects of the riots that gripped the city after the Godhra incident was the destruction of religious places. Idols or flags were placed in a few mosques after these were damaged and some dargahs and temples also became targets of mob fury.

As the local administration makes efforts to restore sanity in a city where tension still lingers, it has decided to remove the visible marks left by mobs at the places of worship.

Sources said that the issue figured in the meeting Union Home Minister L.K. Advani had with senior officials here and it was decided to restore the places to their original status. About 26 religious places, including 18 dargahs were damaged or destroyed in the three-day communal frenzy in the city.

Officials, however, said that only approved places of worship figuring in the requisite maps would be allowed to be re-built and religious places that had been built over encroached land were unlikely to be allowed to come up again.

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has become suddenly active and some encroachments on the busy roads of the city, including the Ashram Road, considered the main artery of the city’s vehicular traffic, were removed in the past four days.

Bulldozers were seen flattening shops built on encroached land adjacent to the ones destroyed by an angry mob.

Officials said that visible marks made on religious places during the riots would be removed discreetly. “Since the city is still not at ease, the administration may have decided to wait for some more time before removing such markings quietly,” said an official.

The Ahmedabad police has also begun registering FIRs in cases of killings, looting and stabbing. Police officials said 242 persons were killed, including 40 in police firing, in Ahmedabad riots.