Fake encounter: Unending protests hit supply of essential commoditie

Tinsukia, May 10 (UNI) A day after the Army ordered a probe into alleged fake encounter carried out by troops of the J&K Light Infantry in Tinsukia, agitating villagers of Rupai in Tinsukia showed no signs of settling down, even as the victim was cremated this evening.

About 5000 protesters continued to block the NH 37 at Rupai, bringing road traffic to and from Sadiya subdivision and four districts of Arunachal Pradesh to a standstill for the fifth consecutive day.

Supply of essential commodities was hit in view of the blockade.

Today, the local public of Sadiya submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner, seeking immediate measures to restore communication to the secluded subdivision, where some 80,000 people are facing shortages of essential commodities, besides reeling under communication bottlenecks.

When contacted, Sadiya MLA Bolin Chetia said, ''We have been trying to pacify the protesters. The government is concerned about the incident and has taken the necessary steps. The protests have affected over 3 lakh people in Sadiya and Arunachal Pradesh.'' Mr Chetia and other MLAs of the district are expected to visit the protesters this evening in another bid to palliate the remonstrance.

Two inquiries, one by the Army and another by a state government appointed commission, are under way to identify the lapses in the killing of Budheswar Moran by troops of the J&K Light Infantry at Doomdooma in Tinsukia on May 6 last.

However, the protesters have been insisting that the chief minister and the governor should visit them and hear their grievances.

Stating that the Army had no right to kill innocent people, government spokesperson Pradyut Bordoloi had told reporters in Tinsukia yesterday the state government has announced an amount of Rs 3 lakh for rehabilitation of Moran's family till the inquiry is complete.

The Army too had accepted that the killing of Moran was a 'mistake'.

A father of three, deceased Moran was a chowkidar at the Manipur Tea Estate of Doomdooma.

The deceased was cremated at his native place in Bishnupur under Talap police station this evening.

This is the third incident of fake whiff in anti-insurgency operations carried out by the Army in the state in the last 15 months.

Earlier, the Dibrugarh district administration had ordered an inquiry after the public protested the killing of one Moni Gogoi by the Army at Balijan in Nahorkotia of Dibrugarh in January last.

The Army claimed that Gogoi was a militant.

In another recent incident, two Army officers were found guilty of killing an innocent villager, Ajit Mahanta of Kakopathar in Tinsukia district, on February 8 last year. The incident had created an uproar in upper Asom.

UNI