A special team of Rapid Action Force personnel, comprising specialists in controlling riots and communal violence, from Coimbatore has planned to take out flag march in hyper-sensitive areas in the district on Friday, according to sources in the RAF.
The team of 60 personnel camped in Periyakulam on Thursday and inspected sensitive areas in the sub-division, including Devadhanapatti. They have planned to cover other communally sensitive and hyper-sensitive areas in Theni, Andipatti, Bodi and Uthamapalayam sub-divisions in the days to come. They will be camping in the district till February 9.
The RAF personnel had been covering all districts in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka periodically. They covered all the districts in a State once in two years, said Assistant Commandant of RAF K. Venkatesan.
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The RAF would observe the topography of sensitive areas, and assess causes and intensity of violence in the identified areas. The RAF personnel would also visit police stations to check the number of incidents of communal violence that took place within their jurisdictions. They would create a map of sensitive areas and write down all details of the area to enable the force to take swift action in case of emergency. As part of their social service activities, the RAF personnel planted tree saplings at a government school in Silvarpatti in Periyakulam block on Thursday morning and interacted with schoolchildren and teachers.
The RAF personnel would consolidate the data on communal violence and other related clashes, and submit a report to the Ministry of Home Affairs. The RAF team visited the district in 2010 for similar familiarisation exercise.