The police on Monday resorted to lathicharge and removed a large number of protestors who had blocked movement of vehicles on NH-52 in Lakhimpur district for the past several days in order to prevent movement of equipment and machinery to the 2000-MW Lower Subansiri hydel project site on the Assam-Arunachal border. They took into custody several hundred protesters at two sites on NH-52 and cleared the highway,following which the groups called a 48-hour bandh in Lakhimpur district to protest against alleged police atrocity. The groups which have called the bandh include the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva-Chatra Parishad and Takam Mising Porin Kebang. While the blockade to prevent movement of equipment to the NHPC project site was on since November 29,the government claimed the protestors started taking the law into their hands. The blockade also affected supply of essential items to several districts in Arunachal Pradesh. Protestors started stopping tankers carrying essential items such as diesel,petrol etc. meant for Lakhimpur,Dhemaji and several other districts.. The administration cannot tolerate such acts which affect the greater interest of society, said an official press note released here tonight.
