The day-long Bharat Bandh called by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in protest against fuel price hike threw life out of gear in Digboi and its surrounding area in Tinsukia district too.
The roads wore deserted look since the morning while educational institutions, commercial establishments remained closed and private and commercial vehicles including school buses remained off across Margherita Sub-Division in
response to the strike that began at 6 am on Monday.
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Also read: Assam: Bandh affects socio-economic growth, hits daily wage earners’
Attendance in Governmental offices including the banks and post office were also very thin.
The Congress workers belonging to various wings of the party under Digboi Assembly Constituency led by Manoj Dhanowar, the State Co-chairman OBC, took to street and ventilated the grievances of the common people resorting to burning of tyres on the roads, halting railway services for long hours and paralysing the normal life at the
country’s oldest AOD refinery and its marketing terminal too.
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The Congress workers staged protests near the entrance of the AOD Administrative Complex and Marketing Terminal at Golai area and refinery main gate preventing the workers and officials from entering the work sites and offices of the corporation in the first half of the morning affecting the functioning of various oil plants, departments and installations.
Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP Government at the Centre, Manoj Dhanowar, educationist-turned-Congress leader, alleged that the Modi Government has miserably failed in its efforts to address the
issues affecting the common people due to spiraling prices of the petrol, diesel and LPG. ‘
“The wide responses the bandh has generated from across the nook and corner of the nation besides the sense of co-operation rendered by people in large numbers bears the testimony of the fact that the common people excluding the ‘favoured industrialists’ want to get rid of the Modi Government which would definitely be materialised in the next general election,” added Dhanowar.
“The anti-people mindset of the saffron party has no longer been a hidden chapter for the people of the country to
understand the ulterior motive of the BJP-led Government and hence it would be adequately contained in the days to come with the anti-BJP crusades of the Congress,” remarked Gautam Dhanowar, State Secretary of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC).
Meanwhile, security was tightened throughout the day and no untoward incidence was reported from Digboi and its neighboring places till filling the report. However, in all 21 veteran Congress leaders and workers including women were arrested by Digboi Police.
The arrested Congress activists of different rank and files included Manoj Dhanowar, Gautam Dhanowar, Ashok Sharma, the district president, Sewadal Young Brigade, Imran Hussain, vice-president, Digboi-Hapjan Block Congress Committee, Bhaskar Jiban Baruah, general secretary, Tinsukia District Congress. They were released early in the evening.