Assam: shutters down, uneasy calm after chaos
28 Aug 2012 7:47 AM IST
Life was paralysed in Assam by a 12-hour bandh called by the Bajrang Dal to protest the violence in the lower Assam districts where the situation was calm with no fresh incident reported on Monday.
Bandh supporters burnt tyres and pelted stones at vehicles in different parts of the state following which the police took nearly 500 of them into preventive custody in Guwahati, Golokgunj and Agomoni in Dhubri, official sources said.
Schools, colleges and educational institutions, commercial and business establishments, financial institutions remained closed with attendance in government offices thin, the sources said.
Vehicles remained off the roads with a few state transport buses running with police escorts.
Bandh supporters were also taken into preventive custody near the North East Frontier Railway at Maligaon here when they stopped railway employees from reporting for duty, the sources said.
Rail and air services, however, remained unaffected. The bandh was supported by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and RSS.
There was no fresh incident of violence in lower Assam districts since Saturday evening where seven people have died and two others injured since Friday taking the toll in the more than month-long violence to 87.
Night curfew was continuing in the districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang and Dhubri with the army on patrol.
NO DELAY IN ARMY DEPLOYMENT IN TROUBLE-TORN AREAS: ANTONY
Assam government had requested the Centre for deployment of army in trouble-torn Kokrajhar district and clearance of the Army Chief was sought in the matter as the situation had communal overtones, the Lok Sabha was informed on Monday.
‘Assam government had requested Defence Ministry through a fax on 21 July for deployment of Army in Kokrajhar,’ Defence Minister A K Antony told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.
He said on learning of the request, the ministry sought assessment of the situation as its personnel were already in deployment for counter insurgency duties in Assam. The minister said on 24 July, the state government requested Army aid to civil authorities in Kokrajhar, Dhubri and Chirang districts. Antony said directions for deployment of Army in civil authority aid was issued on the same day. He was replying to whether the Centre took a long time to send reinforcement in trouble-torn areas.
Thirty-seven Army columns have been deployed in Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Chiranguri, Baksa, Kamrup, Nalbari, Hailakandi, Cachar, Karimganj and Sonitpur districts.
Bandh supporters burnt tyres and pelted stones at vehicles in different parts of the state following which the police took nearly 500 of them into preventive custody in Guwahati, Golokgunj and Agomoni in Dhubri, official sources said.
Schools, colleges and educational institutions, commercial and business establishments, financial institutions remained closed with attendance in government offices thin, the sources said.
Vehicles remained off the roads with a few state transport buses running with police escorts.
Bandh supporters were also taken into preventive custody near the North East Frontier Railway at Maligaon here when they stopped railway employees from reporting for duty, the sources said.
Rail and air services, however, remained unaffected. The bandh was supported by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and RSS.
There was no fresh incident of violence in lower Assam districts since Saturday evening where seven people have died and two others injured since Friday taking the toll in the more than month-long violence to 87.
Night curfew was continuing in the districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang and Dhubri with the army on patrol.
NO DELAY IN ARMY DEPLOYMENT IN TROUBLE-TORN AREAS: ANTONY
Assam government had requested the Centre for deployment of army in trouble-torn Kokrajhar district and clearance of the Army Chief was sought in the matter as the situation had communal overtones, the Lok Sabha was informed on Monday.
‘Assam government had requested Defence Ministry through a fax on 21 July for deployment of Army in Kokrajhar,’ Defence Minister A K Antony told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.
He said on learning of the request, the ministry sought assessment of the situation as its personnel were already in deployment for counter insurgency duties in Assam. The minister said on 24 July, the state government requested Army aid to civil authorities in Kokrajhar, Dhubri and Chirang districts. Antony said directions for deployment of Army in civil authority aid was issued on the same day. He was replying to whether the Centre took a long time to send reinforcement in trouble-torn areas.
Thirty-seven Army columns have been deployed in Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Chiranguri, Baksa, Kamrup, Nalbari, Hailakandi, Cachar, Karimganj and Sonitpur districts.
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