Normal life came to a standstill during the 12-hour bandh in the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) of Lower Assam on Monday.
The bandh was was called in protest of the kidnapping of Pradip Shill, a businessman from Serfanguri Bazar of Kokrajhar district.
The dawn to dusk bandh called in jointly by the All Assam Bengali Youth Students’ Federation (AABYSF) and the All BTC Bengali Youth Students’ Federation (ABBYSF) evoked full response in the four districts viz Kokrajhar,Chirang,Baksa and Udalguri encompassing BTAD-an autonomous region of Assam.
All kinds of vehicular movement, shops and business establishments were seen to be affected due to the bandh hours in the districts.
However, no untoward incidents were reported during the bandh hours.
The 28-year-old kidnapped businessman who originally hails from Tamarhat area of Dhubri district runs a motorcycle garage at Serfanguri Bazar in Kokrajhar district and was kidnapped at gunpoint by unidentified miscreants from Serfanguri Bazar on September 27 last.
According to sources in the police on the basis of an FIR lodged at the Serfanguri Police Station after the incident occurred, police have swunged into action but no progress has been made so far.
All BTC Bengali Youth Students’ Federation (ABBYSF) Chief Advisor,Shyamal Sarkar demanding early release of Shill have lamented that in recent times Bengali Hindus have been victim to various anti-social activities like kidnapping and extortion in the BTAD region.
“The police and district administration have completely failed in keeping tab on the insurgent related activities in Kokrajhar,” Sarkar said.
