KalingaTimes Correspondent
Phulbani, Dec. 24: Heavy security arrangements have been made outside all churches and prayer houses across Kandhamal district of Odisha on Christmas Eve to prevent any untoward incident during the Xmas celebrations on Friday.

Security personnel have also been deployed at strategic points to foil any attempt by miscreants to spoil to Christmas celebrations.

The police of different police stations of the district have also been instructed by the administration to intensify patrolling to keep the communal forces at bay.

The administration has already held a district level peace committee meeting requesting prominent citizens belonging to different religions to maintain peace and harmony during the Christmas celebrations.

Many churches and prayer houses were damaged by Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists in the district on the Christmas day in 2007.

The district had also seen attacks on members of the Christian community and their places of worship for several weeks after the killing of VHP leader Laxmanananda Saraswati on August 23 last year.

More than 40 persons were killed and thousands of families had fled their homes to escape death at the hands of the men belonging to Hindu fundamentalist organisations in the wake of the violence.

Many people who had left their homes during the riots and gone to live in distant places have not returned till date.