States asked to be alert for anti-reservation shutdown on April 10

The Union Home Ministry has asked all the state governments to be extra vigilant to avoid any violence and loss of life and property amid calls on social media for a "Bharat Bandh" (nationwide shutdown) by various anti-reservation groups to protest clashes during the SC/ST Bharat Bandh on April 2.

The ministry has particularly asked the state governments to make the District Magistrates and the district police chiefs "personally responsible" for the law and order situations in their areas of jurisdiction, sources said on Monday.

States have been advised to beef up security and make appropriate arrangements to prevent any untoward incident, including issue of prohibitory orders, if necessary.

They have been asked to intensify patrolling in all sensitive locations so as to prevent any loss of life or property, a senior ministry official said.

The advisory has stressed that District Magistrates and Superintendents of Police be made "personally responsible for ensuring that law and order situation remains firmly under control" in the areas of their jurisdiction, the official added.

A Bharat Bandh on April 2 by Dalit groups against the alleged dilution of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act by a Supreme Court order had led to violence and arson in many parts of the country which claimed several lives and left hundreds of civilians and policemen injured.

--IANS

mak-rak/vd