Peace meet held, compensation to shop owners

A peace meeting, called by state Health Minister U T Khader to ease tension at Talappady and Thokkoottu regions which witnessed clashes and torching of shops by two groups, was held here today.
Khader, representing Ullal covering the sensitive areas, appealed to all sections to maintain peace and not to pay heed to rumours.
City Police Commissioner S Murugan, DCP Santhosh Babu, ACP Kalyan Shetty, Ullal station officer Savitha Teja and other officials were present at the meeting.
Khader, who visited Thokkottu, also distributed Rs 30,000 each as initial compensation to all 13 dealers whose shops were burnt and assured them that the matter would be investigated and the guilty punished soon.

A total of 13 shops were burnt at Thokkottu and several persons including three police personnel injured in stone-pelting at Talapady in the clashes between two groups on February 25.
Meanwhile, police said the situation in the area was largely incident-free today.