THANJAVUR: Vedaranyam in Nagapattinam district, which remained tense following clash between two groups on Sunday during which the statue of Dr.B.R.Ambedkar, chairman of drafting committee of our constitution, was damaged, is limping back to normalcy on Monday evening.
Varadaraju, Inspector General of Police,(IG) Central region, J.Loganathan, Deputy Inspector General of Police,(DIG) Thanjavur range, three superintendents of police(Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam) are camping at Vedaranyam, to ensure that the law and order situation is under control and everything is peaceful.
Loganathan, DIG, told DC over telephone that normalcy has returned and everything is under control. Buses have started plying and shops have re-opened. A resident of Vedaranyam told DC over phone that Monday evening was relatively calm when compared to Sunday evening when clashes between two groups, damage of statue, damage and burning of cars were witnessed.
Loganathan said that 28 persons have been arrested so far and Police are on the lookout of another 30 persons. The police force 750 in number will remain in Vedaranyam for a couple of days and later withdrawn depending upon the situation.
“We don't expect anything untoward to happen hereafter. But we will continue our vigil” he said.
The clash between two groups led by Pandiyaraju and Ramachandran, belonging to two different communities, resulted in damage to the statue. As the statue was completely damaged, a new statue from Athur was brought by police and installed in the same place before Monday morning.
This assuaged the ruffled feelings of people and on Monday evening leaders belonging to various parties offered garlands to the new statue.
Those who garlanded the statue include Selvaraj, Nagapattinam MP (CPI), Samuvel Raj, general secretary of Tamil Nadu Theendamai Ozhippu Munnani and VCK leaders.
The VCK leaders also demanded installing a bronze statue of Dr Ambedkar in that place.
