Police Stage Flag Marches As Precaution Against Ram Navami Violence In Sensitive Jamshedpur

East Singhbhum district police on Thursday staged flag marches in and around the steel city of Jamshedpur in view of the ongoing Ramanavami festival. While the Ramanavami procession will be taken out by `akhara' (religious grouping) committees in respective areas tonight, the religious flags will be taken out tomorrow Friday for immersion in different river ghats. The strict precautionery  measures are being taken as Jamshedpur has a history of riots on the occasion of Ram Navami. Led by Superintendent of Police (City) K Vijay Shakar, the district police force in two groups staged  flag marches that began from Composite Control Room in Sakchi and passed through various parts of the city including Mango, Munshi Mohalla, Golmuri, Jugsalai, Sakchi etc.

Senior Superintendent of Police Prabhat Kumar said senior officials including Sub-Divisional Officer, Additional Superintendent of Police, all Deputy Superintendent of Police and others took part in the flag march, which was part of the ongoing preparation to maintain law and order in the district. Besides, the objective was also to inculcate confidence among the citizenry.  The officials have been asked to motivate all `akhara' committees to implement the guidelines issued by the district administration in letter and spirit, SSP said.

Besides, the  committees were directed to complete the Ramanavami `jhanda' (flag) immersion rituals by 8 PM at any cost tomorrow. SSP sought co-operation from all so that the  festival is observed peacefully. He said the administration was keeping vigil on social media and anti-social elements round the clock. "We are  monitoring social media and will initiate stringent action against any persons found posting inflammatory messages, videos or sharing such posts without verifying them, he said.

Earlier, a high-level meeting of the district was held here on Wednesday. Deputy Commissioner Vijaya Jadhav and  Kumar briefed the Magistrates and police officials about the security arrangement and directed them to keep strict vigil in sensitive and super-sensitive areas. Jadhav directed that magistrates should accompany the procession till immersion was completed. The magistrates deployed at different river ghats should update the control room about the immersion proceedings, she added.