Protesters block a road at Kajalgaon in Assam’s Chirang district on Saturday demanding the arrest of the killers of Osman Goni and his wife. Picture by Eastern Projections

Kokrajhar/Nagaon, Aug. 16: The Assam government has initiated steps to restore normality in clash-hit Rowta in Udalguri district where hundreds are taking shelter in relief camps fearing more skirmishes.

On Thursday, one person died and several were injured in clashes during a bandh called by the Muslim Students’ Union of Assam to protest the alleged harassment of Indian citizens in the name of Bangladeshis.

Dispur is monitoring the situation round-the-clock not only in Udalguri but in Chirang, Darrang, Kokrajhar and Sonitpur districts.

Hundreds of families of seven villages under Rowta police outpost are still taking shelter in Lal Bahadur Shastri High School at Mazkhuti near Udalguri and Garuabazar High School. Local clubs and NGOs of the area are providing food to the camp inmates.

“The situation is under control but tense,” the inspector-general of police, Bodoland Territorial Council, N.M. Dutta, said.

“The army, police and the paramilitary forces have been deployed in sensitive places and they have stepped up vigil throughout the night.”

The minister for public health engineering, Rihon Daimari, is camping in Udalguri. Goons today attacked one person at Gelabil under Orang police outpost around 9am. The injured, Baset Ali, 52, was taken to a health centre by the security forces but he succumbed to his injuries. He was a resident of Fatasimalu village in Sonitpur district.

Another unidentified body was recovered from Mora Dhansiri under Rowta outpost.

Panchayat and rural development minister Chandan Brahma met the protesters and promised measures to arrest the quartet that gunned down villager Osman Goni and his wife last night at Onthaibari in Chirang district.

The All BTC Minority Students Union (ABMSU) today took out a procession with the body. Later, they blocked National Highway 31C for over an hour. The 12-hour bandh called by the Hindu Yuba Chatra Parishad to protest the influx of Bangladeshis affected life in Nagaon.

Magisterial inquiry

West Garo Hills additional district magistrate H.V. Sangma, last week initiated a magisterial inquiry into the death of senior Ulfa militant Dharmen Hajong in police custody on August 3.