National

Bandhs affect life in Assam

Guwahati: Normal life in Assam was affected on Monday owing to bandhs called by Left parties, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party in protest against the hike in fuel and cooking gas prices.

These parties had called for 12-hour bandhs separately.

The CPI(M), CPI, CPI (ML) and the RSP have called for a rail and road blockade on June 11 on the same issue.

The All Assam Tea Tribe Students’ Association (AATTSA) separately observed a 12-hour bandh to press for its demand of resignation of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi in the wake of arrest of sacked Education Minister Ripun Bora by the Central Bureau of Investigation on bribery charge.

The bandhs passed off peacefully and there was no report of any untoward incident, official sources said. Hundreds of bandh supporters were arrested in different parts of the State for picketing on highways and roads.

Traders and shop-owners in Guwahati downed their shutters and banks and financial institutions, educational institutions and fuel pumps remained closed.

Private buses were off the roads as the All Assam Motor Transport Workers Union and bus owners association had called a “chakka bandh” to oppose the fuel price hike. Only the Assam State Transport Corporation plied its city buses.

Attendance in government offices, including the State Secretariat, was thin. Autorickshaws and private vehicles plied.

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