Silchar, July 4: In yet another incident of arson, unidentified persons torched 17 houses in an abandoned Dimasa village in Assam’s North Cachar Hills district this morning.
P.P. Singh, the inspector-general of police, security task force, said over phone from Haflong that several houses were set ablaze by goons at Chhotojoy, an abandoned village under Mahur police station, about 27km from the district headquarters of Haflong. However, there were no casualties.
The perpetrators of the incident are yet to be identified.
Over 29 incidents of arson have taken place in the strife-torn hill district since April, leaving around 60 dead and 10,000 homeless.
Today’s incident has prompted the authorities to say that this could be a ploy by vested interests to claim compensation, which is Rs 10,000 and a bundle of CI sheets for a kutcha house .
The IGP’s observation about vested interests is based on the fact that most incidents of arson have involved houses abandoned in the wake of ethnic clashes between the Dimasas and Zeme Nagas.
This has sparked speculation about the arson being masterminded for the compensation at a time when the government is considering raising the limit of compensation. Senior officials of the army, security forces, police and district administration met at the Circuit House in Haflong yesterday to discuss the situation.
Sources in Dispur indicated that the name of senior bureaucrat M. Alauddin had been approved as administrator of the troubled district. He will act on behalf of the governor to restore normality in the district. Singh, however, did not elaborate on the possible form and pattern of the security drive to be undertaken in the district.
Official sources said an integrated counter-insurgency thrust with stress on proper and intensified mobility of the police and security forces was being considered to tackle guerrillas and goons.
The Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC) has called a 24-hour bandh in the district from 5am tomorrow. The ASDC and the BJP were the two parties in power in the council before it was placed under suspended animation and governor’s rule clamped.
The party is demanding the release of Mohit Hojai, the arrested chief executive member of the North Cachar Hills Autonomous District Council, from police custody, and a halt to extortion, abductions and killings in the district.
They also do not want the panchayati raj system to be extended to the district.
AASU protest: Members of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) today staged a black mask demonstration, in front of Raj Bhavan in protest against the violence and ethnic conflicts in the NC Hills district says our staff reporter from Guwahati.
They demanded firm actions from the state government to prevent killing of innocents in the hill district.