Hyderabad, November 15: Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Monday asked the district collectors to hold peace committee meetings in the communally sensitive areas and submit periodical reports to the government.
The instructions were issued during a high-level meeting at the State Secretariat chaired by the Chief Minister in connection with the week-long celebrations of “Quami-Ekta Week”, starting from November 19.
“This occasion provides us an opportunity to reaffirm our age old traditions and faith in the values of tolerance, co-existence and brotherhood in a multi-cultural and multi-religious society. The observation of the “Quami-Ekta Week” will also help to highlight the inherent strength and resilience of our nation to withstand the present and potential threats to the secular fabric of our country and nurture a spirit of communal harmony in its widest sense”, the Chief Minister said.
The Chief Minister said that any incident of communal violence should be dealt with sternly and with an iron hand and if necessary, people indulging in communal disturbance should be detained. He asked the police officials not to spare anybody indulging in violence and to be totally firm to maintain peace and communal harmony.
During the Quami Ekta Week, National Integration Day will be celebrated on November 19 wherein meetings, symposia and seminars will be held to emphasise the themes of secularism, anti-communalism and non-violence. November 20 will be observed as Minorities Welfare Day; Nov 21 as Linguistic Harmony Day; Nov 22 as Weaker Sections Day; Nov 23 as Cultural Unity Day; Nov 24 as Women’s Day and November 25 will be observed as Conservation Day.
Chief Secretary Pankaj Dwivedi, Director General of Police V Dinesh Reddy, Principal Secretary (Home) Gautam Kumar, Hyderabad Police Commissioner AK Khan, Cyberabad Commissioner Dwaraka Tirumala Rao, Additional DGP (Law and Order) SA Huda, Principal Secretary (Political) Ajay Mishra and other senior officials attended the meeting.
——Agencies