Cautious city holds the peace

mumbai: the city remained peaceful on friday but the tensions over the ayodhya crisis were reflected in the poor attendance in schools and offices. however, there was no drop in air passenger traffic. no untoward incident was reported from any part of the state though deputy chief minister chhagan bhujbal revealed in the assembly that ‘maha aartis’ were performed at 70 places in the state.bandobust will continue in the city and the state for some more days. shops in bhendi bazar pydhonie, nagpada, j.j. marg and dongri areas were closed as muslims responded to their religious leaders’ call of observing the day as ‘yaume dua’ (day of prayer). the vishwa hindu parishad’s call to hindus for a ghantaa naad (mass ringing of temple bells) at 2 p.m. failed to evoke much response. according to the vhp, pujas were performed at hanuman mandir (tardeo), sanyas ashram (vile parle), radheshyam mandir (kalina), ambamata mandir (worli),ram mandir (govandi), ram mandir (borivali), ganesh mandir (matunga labour camp) and hanuman mandir (dadar). the vhp plans to intensify its agitation, with what it calls a ‘jan andolan’ for the ram temple at ayodhya. bjp mlas raj purohit and atul shah too participated in the vhp’s programmes in south mumbai. mumbai police commissioner m.n. singh expressed his gratitude to various political and religious groups who extended their support in maintaining peace in mumbai. he was in constant touch with some of them till late on thursday night and on friday morning. “the media has also played a significant role in spreading the message of peace,’’ he stated. “we have been preparing for the friday bandobast since last week. it involved a great deal of planning, reviewing security and interacting with the public,’’ mr singh said. “as i have been saying, it is always a sustained hate campaign that leads to riots. if the atmosphere gets surcharged, a little spark causes a conflagration.’’ the commissioner said that the city had learnt its lessons from 1992-’93 riots. “since then, the police along with the mohalla committees have been building up an atmosphere of peace and keeping hate campaigns under check. according to mr singh, the police had detained nearly 1,000 persons on friday including those with criminal records and bad character. “i was only worried that some mischief monger would create trouble,’’ he said. state director general of police, subhash malhotra thanked leaders of both the communities for ensuring peace. “i am really grateful to all the religious leaders who showed tremendous strength and maturity throughout last fortnight,’’ he told tnn. he said the police had been working hard since february 26 and all unit commanders at the commissionerate and district headquarters ensured that no ugly incident happened during this period. “our peace committees in the districts also ensured that each community retained confidence in the other,’’ he said. mr malhotra said the police would continue to be on a high alert. “we would take a review of the situation in a few days and accordingly security measures will be redrafted,’’ he said.