One person was killed and several hurt on Tuesday in Golaghat district’s Rangajan area close to the Assam-Nagaland boundary as locals clashed with police and paramilitary force personnel on NH-39 after Assam Police removed the economic blockade imposed by some organisations against the movement of vehicles to Nagaland through the national highway for the past six days.
Police fired rubber bullets several times during the day to disperse villagers who pelted stones on security personnel for detaining 17 participants in the blockade. Police said they also fired live bullets but were fired in the air and not aimed at the protestors. Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) A.P. Rout told The Hindu that one person, identified as Ajit Tanti, succumbed to injuries after being hit by a vehicle in the kerfuffle. He said that one police constable, Dipak Gogoi, had been placed under suspension for beating a person without provocation.
The blockade was imposed by the organisations to protest attack by armed miscreants from Nagaland on villages in Assam along disputed belt of boundary between the two States on August 12-13 that left nine dead and forced over 10,000 people in 14 villages to take shelter in relief camps.
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Meanwhile, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi flayed the Centre for not sending any representative to visit the troubled areas. He said in similar other situations in the past the Centre rushed its representative to issue advisory to the State.