Tension over Rath: Prohibitory orders clamped in Rourkela

Rourkela: The Sundargarh district administration on Friday clamped prohibitory orders in parts of the city here and deployed nearly 20 platoons of CRPF and armed police forces after the tense situation remained unchanged overnight.
The tension started following disruptions in the return car festival.
The security personnel staged a flag march in the steel city, while loud speakers were pressed into service appealing people to stay calm and refrain from congregating at public places.Shops and commercial establishments in Uditnagar and Bisra Road areas remained shut.
District collector Bhupinder Singh Punia convened a peace committee meeting attended by people from different sections of the locality and urged them to work for restoring amity and harmony in the area.
The administration is worried that while it has been trying to restore normalcy, the Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has called a 12-hour Rourkela bandh on Saturday.
"The interruptions during the return car festival is an insult to the people. Hence, we have called the bandh on Saturday," VHP Rourkela unit secretary Krushna Patnaik said in a statement issued here on Friday.
The collector said, "Restoring peace in the city is our priority. We are taking all steps for that. He said the steel city of Rourkela had all along retained its cosmopolitan nature and fraternity and urged people to cooperate with the administration in maintaining the city's tradition".
Tension started in the city when a group of locals belonging to the minority community staged a road blockade on Thursday protesting against certain objectionable content posted by a member of a WhatsApp group, which was later leaked to others.
Since the protest venue fell on the route for the Jagannath chariot to return, the Bahuda Yatra rituals got delayed by a few hours.
Though police rushed to the place and dispersed the protestors promising to arrest the culprit (s), incidents of violence were reported late in the night.
The VHP workers first held demonstration outside the district SP office. They also staged a road block.
The police resorted to mild lathicharge to disperse them. Tension mounted subsequently when some miscreants overturned an auto late in the night and threw stones to passing vehicles, forcing the administration to deploy security forces in the city.
SP (Rourkela) Anirudha Singh said two separate cases had been registered in connection with the incidents involving both groups. He, however, admitted no arrest had been made so far.
"We are investing the matter after registering cases. Since, the situation is tense now, our priority is to restore peace. Appropriate action against the culprits would follow later," the SP said.