Lagatar24 Desk
Guwahati, Nov 23: A group of Meghalayan villagers on Wednesday attacked and burned down a forest office in Assam’s West Karbi Anglong district after six people were murdered in clashes that took place in a contentious area along the boundary between the two states.
Residents of Mukroh village in Meghalaya’s West Jaintia Hills district assembled in front of a beat office in the Kheroni Forest Range in Assam along the interstate border on Tuesday night and set the building on fire. They were armed with machetes, rods, and sticks.
The mob destroyed the forest office and set parked motorcycles, furniture, and paperwork on fire, according to the officials.
However, no injuries have been reported to the on-site forest staff thus far, one of the officials informed PTI. Before a group of police officers and other security people arrived, the villagers had already fled, according to him.
In response to allegations of Assamese attacks on vehicles in Meghalaya, the Assam Police has persisted in advising car owners to stay out of the neighbouring state.
Police officers erected obstacles and requested that no one enter Meghalaya from Assam in a car with an Assamese licence plate. These locations included Guwahati and the Cachar area.
“Since yesterday, we have been advising people not to go to Meghalaya till the situation completely normalises. We are only requesting the private and small car owners not to travel as miscreants are targeting such vehicles there,” Deputy Commissioner (East) of Guwahati Police Sudhakar Singh told PTI.
However, he claimed that as of just now, the commercial vehicles had not been stopped.
According to sources who spoke to PTI, on Tuesday night, miscreants forced the occupants of a car with an Assam licence plate to exit the vehicle before setting it ablaze in Shillong, the state capital of Meghalaya.
As being escorted to the Assam border by the Meghalaya Police, some cab drivers who returned to Guwahati on Tuesday night and Wednesday early claimed that while they were moving, stones were being thrown at their vehicles by bystanders.
According to pleas from the hill state of Meghalaya, Cachar Superintendent of Police Numal Mahatta claimed they urged Assam and other states’ vehicles not to pass through Meghalaya.
“The Meghalaya Police had requested us to control vehicles going inside their state following the disturbances. Restrictions have been put in place as a precautionary measure for the safety of the people,” he added.
