Alert in Ghaziabad over VHP's Ayodhya march

Section 144 of the CrPC (prohibiting an assembly of more than 10 people) has been imposed in Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh after Vishwa Hindu Parishad's (VHP) called for an Ayodhya march.

Meanwhile, passengers on Lucknow- and Faizabad-bound trains would be frisked.

Briefing mediapersons Saturday, Ghaziabad District Magistrate (DM) S.V.S. Ranga Rao claimed the civil administration had identified nine points from where VHP activists could sneak in for going to Ayodhya for the '84-Kosi Yatra' to press for construction of Ram temple there.

Since the state government had banned the march and the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court Saturday dismissed the public interest litigation against state government's decision to ban the 'Yatra' (procession), the district administration is bound to comply with the government orders to stop VHP activists from going to the disputed site.

The dispute is centred on a plot of land in Ayodhya of Faizabad district in Uttar Pradesh. The issues revolve around access to a site traditionally regarded as the birthplace of the Hindu deity Ram, the history and location of the Babri Mosque at the site, and whether a previous Hindu temple was demolished or modified to create the mosque.

The DM said the points identified for frisking of suspected persons are UP Gate, Maharajpur, Gyani Border, Tulsi Niketan, railway station, old bus stand, Anand Vihar bus stand, Bhojpur police station in Modi Nagar and Pilkhuwa border on National Highway-24.

The district administration would acquire KDB School in Kavi Nagar and Modi College in Modi Nagar for makeshift jails. Preventive arrests would be made from Sunday. The frisking and preventive arrests would be intensified on Aug 28, 29 and 30, the days VHP had announced to march to Ayodhya, said the DM.

The administration has identified 22 trains bound for Lucknow and Ayodhya in which passengers would be screened on the aforementioned three dates, he added.