CRPF to stay put in Kandhamal

“Four companies of CRPF will continue to stay in Kandhamal till the end of June. This has already been conveyed to us by the Union Home Ministry,” highly-placed sources in the state home department said.
The Centre had dispatched as many as 53 companies of paramilitary forces to the state last year in the wake of the communal violence following the murder of Hindu religious leader Laxmanananda Saraswati in Kandhamal. Majority of these forces had been deployed in the troubled district.
With an improvement in the situation, there had been a gradual pullout of the Central forces from the state. The Centre had decided to withdraw the last batch of ten companies by May 31 this year.
After receiving an official communication in this regard from the Centre, state government had written to the Union Home Ministry to reconsider its decision and allow the CRPF to stay in Kandhamal at least for one more month.
The state government was of the view that as many of the riot victims had not returned to their respective homes and were still residing in relief camps, it was necessary for the Central forces to be retained in the troubled district for a few more days.