TURA: The first day of the dawn-to-dusk Garo Hills bandh called by the banned GNLA passed off peacefully with no report of any untoward incident from any of the five districts.
This is the second time the GNLA has called for a Garo Hills bandh, this year. Two months ago, the same outfit called for a shutdown of the region in retaliation for the killing of their deputy area commander Marcus Marak who was shot dead by armed police commandos near Bamsamgre.
Wednesday’s bandh call given by the armed outfit resulted in people staying indoors with shops, educational institutions and business houses remaining closed while vehicles went off the roads during the 5 AM to 4 PM closure notice given by the militant organization.
Till the filing of this report there has been no reports of militant attacks even as security forces remained on high alert.
The two most affected districts from militancy, East and South Garo Hills, also remained closed with even petty shops in the villages not opening up for trade. The surrounding villages of Williamnagar particularly Bolkingre and Chachatgre where GNLA military chief Sohan D Shira hails from were also in a state of total shutdown.
Almost all government offices remained closed in the five districts of the region.
The plain belt region of Garo Hills also failed to open up for normal working day during the bandh hours.