Houses gutted in the violence in Kokrajhar on Monday. Picture by UB Photos

July 23: The Centre has stepped in to help the Assam government deal with the violence in Kokrajhar and Chirang districts that spread to Dhubri today. The death toll has mounted to 20 with the recovery of three more bodies in Kokrajhar.

Altogether 14 companies (nearly 1,750 personnel) of CRPF were despatched to Assam to help control the situation.

There are already 90 companies of CRPF in the state, most of which have been deployed in the affected areas.

“According to the state government, 400 villages have been affected in an area of 8,000 square km,” a senior Union home ministry official said today.

Home minister P. Chidambaram, too, spoke to chief minister Tarun Gogoi following news of trouble erupting in different places.

Special secretary (internal security), Ajay Chadha, said more districts had been put on alert in order to prevent further damage.

Assam director-general of police Jayanta N. Chowdhury also briefed senior officials, including Union home secretary R.K. Singh on the developments.

In the past two days, violence has rattled Kokrajhar and Chirang districts and today spread to the neighbouring district of Dhubri, that borders Bangladesh.

The officer in-charge, Kokrajhar police station, B. Das, has been suspended.

Sources said when four boys were beaten to death by villagers, the OC, along with some forces, allegedly kept watching the violence without any use of force.

The railways controlled running of trains to and from Assam at various places because of the situation. Train services resumed late in the evening.

The Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express was blocked by people twice in the disturbed area this afternoon, but eventually allowed to resume its journey. Sources said the people were supporters of All Assam Minority Students Union (AAMSU), which had called a strike in protest against the violence. Though the union had subsequently had called it off, there was a communication gap with the supporters who blocked the train.

A mob set fire to a hostel, Brahma Boarding, at ward number 9 in the heart of Dhubri town and incidents of violence were reported in Gauripur Bazar and the railway station as well as in Golokganj town today, which left five persons injured, including Dhubri superintendent of police Pradip Chandra Saloi.

The police had to fire in the air to disperse mobs at Gauripur, Golakganj and Sapatgram of Dhubri district today.

A police source in Dhubri said the curfew that was clamped in Dhubri district last evening would be relaxed for an hour from 7.45pm to allow people to offer talabi namaz in the mosque today. “If the situation improves by tomorrow morning, curfew will not be re-imposed,” the source said.

But the situation is tense as three houses, including that of a BSF jawan in the Alomganj area and a BLT camp in Sapatgram town were torched.

Dhubri additional superintendent of police Prasanta Dutta said the situation was very tense but under control so far. “More and more people fleeing from BTC areas are entering Dhubri district and taking shelter in schools and other government establishments,” he said.

Representatives of various organisations attended an all-party peace meeting organised at Kokrajhar circuit house today.

But the All Assam Minorities Students’ Union and All Bodoland Minority Students’ Union skipped the meeting.

Forest minister Rakibul Hussain and food and civil supplies minister Nazrul Islam today visited the area to take stock of the situation.

Transport and tourism minister Chandan Brahma has been camping there since Saturday.

After a high-level review involving chief secretary N.K. Das and DGP J.N. Choudhury at his residence late this evening, chief minister Tarun Gogoi directed the DGP and principal secretary (home) Sailesh to visit Kokrajhar tomorrow and take all possible steps to check the violence.

He also directed cabinet ministers Nilamani Sen Deka and Prithibi Majhi to visit Kokrajhar tomorrow.

Gogoi also initiated the move to send the all-party Assembly team to Kokrajhar on Wednesday, his office said after the meeting.

Sources said tonight that a worried Gogoi, who holds the home portfolio, made it clear at the review meeting that the situation must be controlled in 48 hours and adequate steps taken to guard against the spread of violence to fresh areas.

Two senior bureaucrats, S.L. Mewara and K.K. Dwivedi, have been sent to Kokrajhar to oversee relief work.

Sources in Dispur also said the local administration has been asked to use force has asked security personnel to use force on arsonists, looters, ransackers wherever and whenever required.

Talking to reporters, Hussain said the necessary security arrangements had been made to control the law and order situation.

He said additional CRPF companies had been sent to the district.

Asked about the security measures taken in the other two affected districts of Chirang and Dhubri, the minister could not come up with a satisfactory answer: “We are looking into it. Arrangements will be made wherever necessary.”

BTC chief Hagrama Mohilary, however, expressed displeasure over the lack of adequate security measures.

“There is still not sufficient security in the area. We want more security to control the situation,” he added.

Kokrajhar deputy commissioner Donald Gilfellon, too, said the district still needed more security. The officer, along with forces, allegedly took no action and simply watched when four Bodo boys were beaten to death.

BTAD inspector-general of police S.N. Singh, however, said more forces would be deployed in the district.

He said nine additional companies of paramilitary forces are likely to arrive in the district, bringing the total company to 18.

All Bodo Students’ Union president Pramode Boro urged the district administration to declare a curfew for 24 hours. Boro also said there was a need for confidence building measures.

Former chief adviser to the All Bodoland Minority Student Union, Sahjahan Ali, also urged all communities to maintain peace.

Over 70,000 people have been affected in the aftermath of the violence that spread after four youths were killed in Kokrajhar last Friday. People are fleeing their homes and putting up in relief camps set up at different locations. Over 50 relief camps have been set up in the district so far.

AGP MP Kumar Deepak Das criticised the government saying no elaborate security had been provided because of non-availability of forces. “The situation in these areas has become so grave that the district authorities were bound to impose curfew in some of the vulnerable areas,” Das wrote in a letter to Chidambaram today.

Das pointed to minority and tribal villages being burnt in Gossaigaon subdivision of Kokrajhar. “There should be direct intervention by the Centre to protect the lives and property of the innocent peace-loving people,” the AGP MP wrote.

AIUDF general secretary Aminul Islam said a seven-member AIUDF team, comprising four legislators, met chief minister Tarun Gogoi in his official chamber here this afternoon, seeking protection of those living in the BTAD, immediate control of the situation and ensuring return of the affected from relief camps to their homes. “We have also asked for deployment of the army in vulnerable areas as we have no faith in Assam police,” he added.