GUWAHATI/ DIPHU, Dec 28: Mobile internet services in violence-hit Karbi Anglong and West Karbi Anglong districts of Assam were restored on Sunday following improvement in the law and order situation, an official order said.
Strict security vigil continued in the districts, along with the deployment of additional security forces in the worst-affected areas, an official said.
Two persons were killed and over 170 people injured, mostly security personnel, in violence in parts of West Karbi Anglong district last week.
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An order by Ajay Tewari, Additional Chief Secretary of the Home and Political Department, said mobile internet services, which had been suspended on December 23, have been restored with immediate effect.
The order said that the law and order situation in the two districts has “improved and normalised, and it appears that there is no further apprehension of breach of public peace and tranquility for the time being”.
It added that the earlier order suspending mobile internet services was revoked from 8 am on Sunday, and all mobile service providers operating in the two districts were directed to restore their services.
An official in Diphu said that normalcy is being restored in the trouble-torn areas with shops and other business establishments opening, and people coming out to procure essential items.
Army, Rapid Action Force and CRPF remained deployed in the worst-hit areas, assisting police to ensure there is no breach of law and order situation, he said.
Prohibitory orders under Section 163 of BNSS also remained clamped, the official added.
Police had said on Saturday that 173 security personnel, belonging to both Assam Police and CRPF, were injured in the violence.
The indigenous Karbi and the migrant Bihari communities have been at loggerheads in West Karbi Anglong district over allegations of encroachment on Village Grazing Reserve (VGR) and Professional Grazing Reserve (PGR) lands in the tribal belts by the Hindi-speaking people.
Agitators from the Karbi community had been on a hunger strike for 15 days, demanding the eviction of alleged illegal settlers, who mostly hail from Bihar, from VGR and PGR lands in the tribal belts.
The protesters went on a rampage on Monday after police took away three agitators from the protest site during the early hours, reportedly to a Guwahati hospital as their health had deteriorated, which the administration later claimed was for their hospitalisation.
Kheroni area in West Karbi Anglong district witnessed widespread violence on Tuesday, as one person was killed in police firing and another was burnt alive inside his house.
There was an attempt to evict the settlers last year, but a petition was filed in the Gauhati High Court, which passed an interim order staying the eviction process. A tripartite meeting was held on Friday between the state government, Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) and the protesters, with Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma assuring the agitators that the government would move the Gauhati High Court for an early order on its previous stay on eviction in grazing lands in both the districts. (PTI)
