From Our Special Correspondent Chandigarh: Intelligence agencies and the Central Commissioner of India, according to a New Delhi report, has told Union Government that conducting a new census in Fazilka and Abhar area to ascertain the language spoken by inhabitants there will generate tension and communal feelings. According to reliable resources the Intelligence Bureau, which was specially dupeted by the Home Ministry to furnish a report on the feasibility of holding a fresh census, is understood to have said that such an exercise would be disastrous as the atmosphere is already surcharged with tension. The team which visited Khandukhera in Faridkot and a number of other villages in Punjab claimed by the Haryana Government, have reported that a census is bound to create problems for all concerned including the two state Governments and the center. There have been occasions when the Punjab Police harassed the near and dear ones of the Sarpanche’s and Panche’s who had supported the claim of Haryana.
The Home Ministry asked for the report in view of the directive from Mathew Commission asking the Government whether it would be able to make arrangements for conducting a fresh census in the villages claimed by Haryana and how much time it would take to complete the task.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 20, 1985
