Curfew To Be Lifted In Odisha’s Sambalpur Today As Situation Improves

Sambalpur: With the situation in Odisha’s violence-hit Sambalpur showing signs of considerable improvement, the authorities on Saturday decided to lift the curfew from the entire the city.

While curfew has already been lifted from areas coming under four police stations of the the western Odisha city, the restrictions will be withdrawn from the remaining two areas on Saturday. Curfew was lifted earlier from Khetrajpur, Ainthapalli, Bareipalli, and Sadar police station areas.

Curfew had been imposed in the city in the aftermath of stone throwing and violent incidents on April 12 and 14 before and during Hanuman Jayanti celebrations.

Stating that normalcy has returned in the city, Sambalpur Superintendent of Police B Gangadhar said night curfew is still in force in the areas under the jurisdiction Town and Dhanupalli police stations.

The situation has been assessed and the curfew will be lifted from these two remaining areas today, the SP said.

Appealing to the people to use social media in a responsible manner, he said people should refrain from sharing or spreading unnecessary rumours or any inflammatory or hate messages.

The police have a control room and one can verify any incident by calling the control room on 112, he said, adding that a social media monitoring cell has also been created.

While 16 people were called by the police for sharing and spreading hate posts on social media, they were allowed to go after obtaining an undertaking from them, he said.

A total of 102 people have so far been arrested in connection with the violent incidents in the city, the SP said. While 46 people have been arrested in connection with the April 12 incident, 56 have been nabbed for the violence on April 14.