From Our Correspondent
GUWAHATI: Rail communication remains disrupted between Guwahati and eastern Assam even though the authority in Assam has declared shoot-at-sight on the track to prevent miscreants from causing damage to the railway track passing through the violence-ravaged Karbi Anglong Hill district where Army have been deployed along with additional companies of paramilitary forces.
A Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) spokesman informed that trains had stopped running between Dibrugarh (in eastern Assam) and Guwahati in western Assam as the state authority has not given clearance to run the service because of the volatile situation in Karbi Anglong Hill district.
The miscreants had tampered with the railway tracks in many parts of the district on the night of Thursday causing great inconvenience in movement of trains on Friday. Subsequently, shoot at sight has been declared to keep miscreants away from the railway line that connects eastern and central Assam to the rest of the country.
Assam government on Saturday deputed two senior ministers, Prithibi Majhi and Rajib Lochan Pegu to Karbi Anglong Hill district for taking stock of the situation there.
The lone MP from Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao hill districts and five MLAs from both the hill districts in Assam have decided to go to New Delhi on August 5 to apprise the Central leadership of the prevailing situation in both the hill districts because of the renewed statehood demand.
The agitators demanding a separate state comprising Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao districts have asked the MP, MLAs and the members of both the autonomous council to resign and join the statehood movement.
Regarding growing demand for bifurcation of Assam, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said, “We want to live together with all communities in Assam as a joint family. At the same time we want to look into the genuine grievances of all the communities.”
Meanwhile, All Koch-Rajbongshi Students Union (AKRSU) on Saturday took out a procession in Guwahati to press for their demand for a separate Kamatapur State as well as Scheduled Tribe status to the community. The agitators submitted a memorandum to Assam Governor J B Patnaik highlighting their demands. They pointed out that the community had been fighting for their rights through democratic movement since 1968.
PTI adds
Meanwhile, violence continued to rock Karbi Anglong district where various government offices were also torched apart from train tracks being removed by activists of different organisations demanding a separate state on the lines of Telangana.
The agitationists set ablaze veterinary, irrigation, agriculture, health, Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) and Public Works Department (PWD) offices across the district on Friday night, officials said on Saturday. Flag marches by the army, that was called in by the civil administration, was continuing across the violence-hit district for area domination and to instill confidence among the people, officials said.
Four persons were injured on Friday when police opened fire to disperse a mob of over 300 people that ransacked Donkamakom police outpost and attacked the policemen there demanding the release of seven arrested youths. Seven policemen were injured by the mob. (PTI)