MARGAO
Though Goa has enjoyed communal harmony and amity amongst communities over the years, the Rumdamol and neighbouring Gogol Housing Boards had in the recent past witnessed communal tensions and clashes amongst members of the two religious communities.
In fact, it’s now a decade when the Rumdamol Housing Board had witnessed communal clashes between members of the Hindu and Muslim communities. In the clashes, the house of a member of the majority community was damaged and attacked by the rival group over a local issue.
The echo was then felt in the neighbouring commercial capital after members affiliated to the majority community went on a rampage around the markets, including the Gandhi market, forcing the police headed by then DySP Umesh Gaonkar to order a clampdown to nip the violence in the bud.
Since then the two housing boards had witnessed communal tensions, either over the erection of flags or banners. The Gogol Housing Board too had reported tension a couple of years ago when a group targeted the banners of the majority community and the latter retaliated by setting two-wheelers afire at the place bordering the Rumdamol housing board.
Around two years ago, tension was witnessed in the Gogol Housing Board after a float prepared for the Eid procession was damaged in the night.
More recently, the Gogol Housing Board was back in the news last week when members of the temple committee had raised objections over the erection of a decorative arch close to the temple on the eve of the Eid festival. The arch was later shifted meters away from the temple after the intervention of the Fatorda police.
A retired police officer in the know informed that the two housing boards have indeed become the communal flashpoints in recent years.
After the violence in the Rumdamol Housing Board and Margao a decade ago, a committee was constituted to go into the issues of the communal violence in the housing boards, which had recommended the constitution of peace committees with members from both the communities in order to remove misgiving amongst the two communities.
