Silchar (Assam), (Samajweekly) With one more Assam policeman succumbing to bullet injuries at the Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH) on Tuesday night, the death toll in Monday’s firing on the Assam-Mizoram rose to six, officials said.
Meanwhille, Cachar Superintendent of Police Nimbalkar Vaibhav Chandrakant, who was shot in the leg in Monday’s firing, has been shifted to Mumbai by Indian Air Force air ambulance.
Announcing the latest fatality, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, in a tweet, said: “I am sad to inform that Shyamprasad Dusat of 6th AP Bn has succumbed to his abdominal bullet injury at SMCH. He couldn’t be operated or moved to Guwahati because of his worsening condition. I salute the brave martyr and bow in reverence. My heartfelt condolences to the family.”
The other five Assam Police personnel killed in Monday’s firing are Sub-Inspector Swapan Kumar Roy and constables Liton Suklabaidya, M.H. Barbhuyia, N. Hussain and S. Barbhuiya.
Sarma, who on Tuesday rushed to Silchar and straightway went to the SMCH, where injured security personnel were admitted for treatment. He said that if required, the injured police personnel should be shifted to Guwahati or elsewhere for advanced treatment.
Paying his last respect to the slain police personnel, the Chief Minister also laid wreaths to their mortal remains and announced an ex-gratia amounting to Rs 50 lakh to the next of the kin of each deceased and government job for one member of the family of the deceased.
He also said that all the police personnel sustained injuries would be entitled to Rs one lakh compensation.
Assam Police personnel deployed along the 164.6 km Assam-Mizoram border would get an additional salary of one month, he announced.
The Chief Minister also said that clear evidence is emerging which conclusively show that Mizoram Police and their supported elements are behind in fomenting trouble across the border.
He also said that Assam would seek the intervention of the Supreme Court for the protection of reserve forest from destruction and encroachment.
The Chief Minister said that Assam is a responsible state which can not tolerate the lives of innocent civilians being lost in border skirmishes. He also said that there is no question of retaliation, as Assam respects the life of every individual.
Later Sarma, who holds the Home Department, held a meeting to review the law and order situation prevailing in southern Assam’s Barak Valley, particularly in Cachar district.
An Assam government statement said that there was unprovoked firing from the Mizoram side as its senior state officials, led by an Inspector General of Police, had requested Mizoram Police and officials to dismantle unauthorised constructions on the Assam side.
“The Assam officials suddenly were surrounded and attacked by a mob of miscreants, brandishing weapons and wearing helmets, from the Mizoram side and that was visibly supported by the Mizoram Police. While the mob pelted stones on the Assam officials and destroyed three vehicles including the Deputy Commissioner’s car, the Mizoram Police simultaneously fired tear gas shells on the delegation. The IGP was injured in this barrage,” the statement said.
