Tingplik Express

Guwahati, May 19 (TEN): The Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) has set a 72-hour deadline for Nagaland police to pay compensation to the next of kin of three persons killed after being hit by a vehicle belonging to the cops yesterday.

An office-bearer of the AJYCP’s Mariani unit said the occupants of the Nagaland police vehicle, including the driver, were drunk and driving at great speed, resulting in the mishap. While three persons, one of them a woman, died on the spot, another person was seriously injured. The student organisation has also demanded a permanent Assam police checkpost in New Sunthia where the accident took place.

Security forces in Assam and Nagaland along the inter-state border in Jorhat district have been put on high alert after the deadline was declared.

The AJYCP today launched a 24-hour road blockade and threatened to convert it into an indefinite agitation if the compensation was not paid within the deadline. The students also threatened not to allow any Nagaland police vehicle to ply on the road till the compensation was paid.

Economic blockades have become a strong weapon for organisations in Assam since the Jorhat-Mokokchung road is the lifeline for three Nagaland districts — Mokokchung, Tuensang and Mon — and 80 per cent of the essential commodities to these districts are supplied from the wholesale market in Jorhat. The road is also the main thoroughfare between the three districts and Dimapur, the commercial hub of Nagaland.

The AJYCP has submitted a memorandum to the Jorhat district officials to take up the matter with their Mokokchung counterparts so that the compensation was paid within the timeframe.

“Several roadside motels in these areas sell liquor illegally and people from across the border are the main customers since Nagaland is a dry state,” the office-bearer said.

A Jorhat district administration official said the demand of the AJYCP has been conveyed to the Mokokchung district administration. “We have seized the vehicle and are in touch with Mokokchung on the AJYCP demand,” he said.

The official said a routine road accident case has been registered at Mariani police station. He said the police have been asked to conduct raids on illicit liquor dens along the road, especially on the ones near the border areas.

Bikash Dey, a resident of Mariani, said drivers have a habit of rash driving. “Yesterday’s accident was big and that is why it has drawn attention but smaller accidents keep happening all the time. Most of the time the drivers are drunk.”