One dead in clashes over AIIMS location

Bijay Sankar Bora

Tribune News Service

Guwahati, July 15

One person was killed and several others injured when the police opened fire on a mob of protesters that was blocking the national highway at Raha in Central Assam’s Nagaon district. The deceased has been identified as Mintu Deuri.

The police said nearly 3,000 protesters were blocking the highway that connected the eastern and central Assam with Guwahati, demanding setting of the proposed All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Raha instead of the already selected site at Changsari in Kamrup district.

Hundreds of vehicles were stranded along the arterial highway for hours due to the blockade. As the protesters refused to budge, the police used tear gas to disperse the crowd but the protesters hurled stones at the police and the CRPF personnel on duty. The police claimed that at least 25 police personnel, including an ASP and a DSP, were injured.

As the situation worsened, the police fired rubber bullets followed by controlled firing that left one dead and several injured. The traffic on the highway was restored subsequently. The situation is now stated to be tense but under control.

"We have got reports of one person being killed. He was injured in the clash and we had sent him to hospital. He was declared brought dead," Raha Circle Officer Pallavi Kachary said.

"In the clash, at least 20 people are injured although we cannot verify the exact number at this moment," she said. The protesters have, however, claimed that more than 50 of them were injured.

(With PTI inputs)