Blast, media boycott mar PM's visit to Asom

Guwahati, Apr 8: A media boycott and an ULFA-triggered blast, killing one person, marred Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Asom today.

Dr Singh laid the foundation of a new bridge over the Brahmaputra here amid boycott of the event by city-based media to protest misbehaviour by police officials.

The local media boycotted the programme after a group of police officials hurled verbal abuses on a team of media personnel at the entrance of the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium.

The group of journalists included Press Trust of India Guwahati bureau chief Enaxi Baruah, Indian Express North East correspondent Samudragupta Kashyap, Times of India principal correspondent Prabin Kalita, besides many other photo and print journalists.

Senior Superintendent of Police (City) (SSP) S N Singh abused the team of journalists even as the police was hard pressed to control the crowd at the single entrance to the stadium.

The SSP refused to help the media team enter the stadium premises and used abusive language.

Meanwhile, as the Prime Minister made way to the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium on the outskirts of the city from the airport, suspected ULFA militants exploded a bomb in the city, killing at least one person.

The blast, triggered by suspected United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) militants, occurred at 1735 hrs in Kumarpara area of the city.

Another 15 people were injured in the blast, five of them seriously. The dead has been identified as one Aminul Haque.

The seriously injured were shifted to the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital, while the rest were taken to the nearby Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital and Marwari Maternity Hospital.

The city police, concentrating on security arrangements for the Prime Ministerial visit, rushed to the blast site.

The bomb was planted on a stationary motorbike near the railway track in the Kumarpara area of the city.

UNI