Police edgy over July 31 rally

AHMEDABAD: Even though the state government has taken a final decision on granting permission to for a public meeting to be organized by the Una Dalit Atyachar Ladat Samiti, which is scheduled for July 31, senior police officer are in a huddle over security arrangements.
This is because the dalit leaders seem firm on holding the public meeting, with or without permission.
As city cops negotiated with the dalit leaders over shifting of the venue to some other place, rather than near the Ahmedabad district collectorate, a series of meetings were held in Gandhinagar in connection with this July 31 meeting.
Senior police officials said they are in touch with central and state intelligence bureaus for inputs on the meeting.
"The area near the collector's office is dalit-dominated and it will be a big law and order problem if sentiments run high during the public meeting.
Moreover, this area is a silent zone and no public meeting can be held there," said a senior police official.
Police officials said they are not taking any chances, as they have witnessed the Patidar quota stir rally of August, 2015 at GMDC ground take a violent turn.
"Demonstrations held in the city to protest against the Una incident also had some violent incidents, and we are not taking any chances this time," said a senior police official.
A senior IPS officer based in Gandhinagar said it is Ahmedabad police that has to decide on permission for the dalit public meeting.
"In any case, we are assessing the situation and may send additional forces to Ahmedabad for security arrangements, whether permission is granted or not," said a senior police officer.