The villagers of Gambhari Gram Panchayat under Brahmagiri police station took a vow to shun violence and restore peace in their locality.

A peace committee which recovered fifty stolen motorcycles from their villagers handed them over to the police. This is a very significant development under the police initiative so far.

Gambhari panchayat witnessed large scale violence, arson and bloody clashes over fishing claims and political vendetta in last two decades. Bloody clashes between the villagers were everyday happenings. A large number of criminal cases were registered against persons of both the groups with the Brahmagiri police while most of the time all the male persons of both the groups went on hiding for long periods after each violent activity anticipating police action.

SP Anup Sahu after joining the district took the issue with a human approach and had several parleys with leaders of both the groups and conducted a peace cycle rally in 2012 with the help of a Puri based NGO. The villagers of Duarsuni, Goapur, Sanbasantpur, Tua and Podadiha under the Gambhari panchayat in a meeting resolved to forge peace and amicably settle all their village disputes.

Former Zilla Parishad member Satya Jena and former sarpanch laxmidhar Baral, the leaders of the peace committee, who called on the SP, said, “We discussed all issues and criminal cases arising out of the disputes and judiciously settled it for the betterment of the locality in the village meeting. The generous cooperation extended by the SP came in handy,” they said. The panchayat committee had taken a unanimous decision that youth of the panchayat would not get involved in criminal activities in the village and outside and if they were found, they would be heavily punished by the committee.

SP Sahu presented the committee leaders a cheque of Rs 50,000 to encourage them and continue the peace process.

Talking to mediapersons, SP Sahu said it was a challenge for the police to restore peace in the area. “We approached almost all the villagers and took note of their views. They promised us to shun violence. We were closely observing on developments. It is heartening to note that the villagers maintained peace and tranquility during the last panchayat and general elections,” he said.