Govt moves migrants to relief camps

With the anti-Bihari violence in Assam8217;s Karbi Anglong hill district claiming 30 lives over a period of just five days, the authorities...

With the anti-Bihari violence in Assam8217;s Karbi Anglong hill district claiming 30 lives over a period of just five days, the authorities have started shifting the vulnerable Hindi-speaking population to relief camps and safe locations closer to police stations and outposts.

Over 1,500 people have been shifted to as many as eight relief camps, while about 1,500 families have been moved to places close to police stations. Karbi Anglong District Deputy Commissioner M Angamuthu said more people are being brought under security cover.

The Assam Government is under pressure to show some action, with the Opposition gunning for it and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar demanding that the Centre should step in if the killings didn8217;t stop.

Talking to reporters in Patna at his residence, Nitish said: 8220;It is the fundamental right of the Biharis and Hindi-speaking people to live and work in any part of the country.8221; The Centre, he said, should intervene as the situation in Assam had turned serious, with Bihari labourers being killed with impunity.

A high-level team of Union Home Ministry officials is already in Guwahati and is holding talks with the state Government, security forces and intelligence agencies on the situation in the state. Sriprakash Jaiswal, Union Minister of State for Home, is arriving tomorrow and is scheduled to visit Karbi Anglong.

The AGP, which has described the Tarun Gogoi Government as a 8220;total failure8221; and called for its immediate dismissal, has called for a dawn to dusk bandh tomorrow along with 12 other opposition parties.

8220;Innocent people are being killed every day. And Chief Minister Gogoi points at increasing bars and restaurants in the state capital to prove that the overall situation has improved,8221; AGP president Brindaban Goswami lamented. The BJP too has demanded dismissal of the Gogoi Government and imposition of President8217;s Rule. A delegation of BJP MPs led by Kalraj Mishra is arriving here in a couple of days.

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In one breakthrough for the security forces in Assam, they claimed to have shot two militants believed to be members of the Karbi Longri National Liberation Front KLNLF. Along with the ULFA, the KLNLF is suspected in the spree of attacks on Bihari migrant settlers as well as seasonal labourers in the past few days. The two militants were gunned down at Mauzadarpatti under the Bokajan Police Station on Monday. 8220;The police spotted a group of six to eight militants in the area, and after a hot chase managed to gun down two of them,8221; Karbi Anglong SP Anurag Tangkha told The Indian Express.