NCM to check rehabilitation work in Orissa's Kandhamal

The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) will visit Kandhamal to monitor the rehabilitation and reconstruction work the State Government has brought about for the victims of last year's anti-Christian violence.

A two-member team of the NCM will visit the communally-sensitive Kandhamal district from June 10, sources said.

The Commission will visit the existing relief camps and review the situation of the affected people. The team will also check the distribution of relief packages as promised by the State Government.

The team before returning to Delhi will meet Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on June 11.

NCM, last year, following its investigation in the mob attacks on churches in Orissa and Karnataka, demanded the Prime Minister to take stringent action, including a ban against organisations responsible for the violence.

The commission, in its report, had demanded that the state should take timely action on intelligence reports and keep a close watch on bodies which preach communal violence and disturb peace.

NCM further strongly criticized the BJP government in Karnataka, for its failure to control the communal clash.

Its Chairman Md Shafi Qureshi also dismissed the idea that forced conversions led to clashes advanced by a section of people.

"Our teams have returned from both the states. Activists of Bajrang Dal are involved in these attacks in both places," Qureshi pointed.

NCM is a body constituted by the Government of India to monitor and evaluate the progress of people classified as minorities by the Indian government.