Personnel of the special task force (STF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) shot at and injured nine students, including a girl, during the Durga Puja celebration in Roing town of Arunachal Pradesh on Wednesday. The injured were rushed to Roing Hospital where the condition of all was said to be critical. Most of the injured were rushed to Dibrugarh hospital later that night.
The forces first entered the puja premises and roughed up the students. Later, the youngsters were chased around Roing Bazaar and fired at. Subsequently, jawans from the STF, CRPF and also India Reserve Battalion (IRB) led by Superintendent of Police Veenu Bansal forcefully tried to enter the hospital premises, threatening to take away the injured along with them.
They were stopped at the hospital entrance by students, leading to an altercation. The jawans then fired in the air and threatened to enter the hospital by force. Only after the team was convinced that the injured were in a critical condition, Bansal and his men turned back.
The town has remained shut since then, following an indefinite bandh called by the All-Idu Mishmi Students Union (AIMSU) and the Idu Mishmi Cultural and Literary Society (IMCLS). The two organisations are demanding suspension of Bansal and Deputy Commissioner Garima Gupta. They are also demanding a judicial inquiry into the incident.
The authorities here have been trying to thwart those protesting against the Dibang dam under the pretext of tackling Maoists who are alleged to be active in the area. The community-based organisations have described these reports as planted stories, meant only to mobilise additional troops for a forceful conduct of the forthcoming public hearing on the dam project. The public hearing on the 3000 MW Dibang Multipurpose Project will be held in Roing on October 31.
The new Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Jarbom Gamlin, who held the power portfolio in the earlier Dorjee Khandu Cabinet, has gone on record saying that the “power projects will stay, come what may.” Gamlin surely means to stick to his words. Or guns, if you may.
