Normal life hit in parts of Assam due to 12-hr bandh over NRC

Normal life was affected in parts of Assam on Friday as a students' union observed a 12-hour bandh in the State over exclusion of members of an indigenous group from the final National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Asserting that the updated register, published on August 31, was "full of errors", the All Koch Rajbongshi Students' Union (AKRSU) demanded that members of its community, who have been left out, be immediately included.

One of the protesters told reporters that AKRSU will not accept the final NRC as "the list was full of errors".

He also said that thousands of Koch Rajbongshi people have been excluded from the register.

Official sources said no incident of violence has been reported from any part of the State, but the protesters were seen burning an effigy of state NRC Coordinator Prateek Hajela at Nalbari district's Kauli area.

Almost all shops, banks, educational institutes and offices remained closed in Koch Rajbongshi areas of Morigaon, Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa, Nalbari, Nagaon and Sivasagar districts, the sources said.

Private vehicles also stayed off the roads, though state-run long-distance buses plied on national highways with police escort, they said.

Five agitators, including AKRSU's Kumarkata unit president Deepak Roy, were detained by the police during the day as they refused to lift a road blockade.

The 12-hour shutdown, however, did not have much impact on Guwahati, the sources added.

More than 19 lakh of the 3.29 crore applicants have been excluded from the final National Register of Citizens (NRC), released in Assam last month.