SECURITY FOR MIDNIGHT MASS IN KANDHAMAL

Bhubaneswar : With Christians in riot-hit Kandhamal afraid to perform midnight mass in churches located in remote areas on Christmas eve, the Orissa government on Tuesday promised adequate security to ensure a peaceful festival this time, official sources said.

"We have made elaborate security arrangements in Kandhamal and elsewhere in the state," Home Secretary Aditya Padhi told reporters on Tuesday after meeting Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Chief Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy.

The government's assurance came after archbishop's house here asked churches in remote, hilly and forest areas in Kandhamal to avoid midnight mass due to fear of attack.

"We advised churches in remote areas in Kandhamal against midnight mass because people will be returning to their houses at around 1 am in the night after the midnight prayer. We feel it is not safe to return home so late," said Archbishop Raphael Cheenath.

The chief minister while reviewing the arrangement in Kandhamal for Christmas was believed to have told the home department to ensure that no one was denied right to attend the midnight mass on eve of the festival, sources said.

The government had already identified as many as 30 Roman catholic and protestant chuches in Kandhamal for security cover.

"If some other churches require security, they will be provided with", Padhi said adding that adequate facilities had been made in eight relief camps for conducting midnight mass.

Besides deployment of 42 companies of central para military force, the administration had rushed more ODRAF (Orissa Disaster Rapid Action Force) units to Kandhamal to deal with situation. ODRAF units used to clear roads which were generally blocked by felling trees

                                                SOURCE: OMNI NEWS