The Regiona1 parties call for North-East bandh on foreigners’ issue evoked varied response ranging from partial to negligible. Barring a few minor incidents, the day passed off peacefully.
The bandh was fairly successful in Gauhati and Aizwal, but had little impact in Itanagar and Agartala
In Shillong, as there was no picketing by the organisers, the attendance in the offices was in the arc of 70 and 90%.Although most of the offices functioned normally, the school and college had thin attendance and many institutions did not hold classes.
No Public transport operation were on road, but State owned buses plied in various routes. Two MTC buses were stoned at Mawlai, while a Magistrate’s jeep was damaged and the driver injured because of stoning.
Commercial activities came to a grinding halt as most of shops and trading centres had their shutters down. However cinema shows were held as usual. Although most of the banks failed to function on the day, the State Bank main city branch operated unhampered.
A report from Tura said that 106 picketers were arrested for violating Sec 144 of the Cr P.C. during the day. Another person was he1d on charges of assault. The All-Meghalaya Garo Students Union volunteers were picketing at some vantage points, Police picked them up. As elsewhere, the overall response in Tura was partial.
Reports from Jowai suggest that there was not much of an impact as life trudged along normally in the district headquarter.