Agartala, September 21 (TIWN): As a part of the damage control exercise after the communal clashes at Munshibari in Bishalgarh sub-division, the local administration decided to deny plea of organizing Durga Puja on the Eidgah ground this year.

The decision, that came from a strategic meeting by the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), said that the Durga Puja venue would have to be shifted elsewhere from the Eidgah ground premises. The SDM further appealed for peaceful coexistence in the area.

The Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP) earlier protested the issue and organized an aggressive rally in the area on September 19.

“The attack was perpetrated by Muslim fundamentalists. It was an attack on the spirit of the Durga Puja and the religious beliefs that come with it. All Muslim attackers and their associates have to be punished for their involvement in the crime”, VHP leader Khokan Chandra Paul said.

Twelve people were injured in the clashes over fixing the Durga Puja venue at Eidgah ground in Raghunathpur, Munshibari of Bishalgarh sub-division on September 18. Two of them were reported critical following which they were shifted to the GBP Hospital.

A source in the local administration said that tight security was mulled in the area to prevent further escalation of the situation.

Leaders of the sub-divisional Wakf Board, representatives of the Bishalgarh municipal council and Officer in-Charge of Bishalgarh police station Kantilal Baidya agreed to the decision adopted in the reconciliation meeting.