Nagaland forest official, two others injured by stone pelters in Assam

GUWAHATI, June 5, 2018: Three persons, including a senior forest official of Nagaland, were injured in sporadic incidents during a 24-hour chakka bandh (wheel jam) called by the All Assam Motor Transport Association in Assam against the price hike of petroleum products on Monday.

The Nagaland official was injured when some strike supporters pelted stones at his vehicle in central Assam's Hojai district. The incident took place along the East-West Corridor Highway at Doboka when Tejen Crose, along with his wife and driver, were travelling from Guwahati to Dimapur around 10am.

Hojai superintendent of police Ankur Jain said the stone pelters were members of some auto-rickshaw union.

"They managed to flee. We will investigate the matter thoroughly," Jain said.

Sources said the forest official's vehicle was badly damaged and is kept at a local police station. Its three passengers were dropped off at Dimapur by another vehicle with police escort. Hojai police said two strike supporters were arrested from the site. They were later freed on bail.

Dinesh Kalita, an official of the All Assam Motor Transport Association, said, "Those who had pelted stones at Doboka are not our members. Some miscreants always harm people during such agitations. Our protest is not against private vehicles, so there is question of our members being involved in the incident. However, we demand action against those miscreants." He said the strike was successful.

In Guwahati, city bus unions and shared-taxi unions supported the strike. But there has been no response from the government. The strike that crippled life across the state was called by the association to demand revision of fare structure of public transport in accordance with fuel price hike, failing which it threatened to call another 48-hour strike on June 11.

Source, Image Courtesy: The Telegraph