By IANS
Guwahati : Hundreds of tribals were on the streets across Assam Monday, blocking traffic as part of their campaign demanding Scheduled Tribe status. Police said they had arrested more than 100 of them.
More than 1,000 Adivasis are sitting on a highway in the western Kokrajahar district while hundreds have come out to enforce the highway blockade in the eastern tea growing districts, a police official told IANS.
The 12-hour highway blockade, which began at 6 a.m., was called by the All Adivasi Students Association of Assam (AASAA) to press for their demand of Scheduled Tribe status to the community in the state with an eye on state benefits including education and job quotas.
The Adivasis are one of the 120 communities associated with tea plantations in Assam demanding Scheduled Tribe status.
Another influential tea community group, the Assam Tea Tribes Students Association (ATTSA), has called an economic blockade Tuesday, a programme that is expected to target oil and tea producing areas in the eastern districts of Dibrugarh, Tinsukia and Sivasagar.
“We arrested around a hundred Adivasi protesters Monday morning in Golaghat district for trying to block traffic,” Deputy Inspector General of Police L.R. Bishnoi said.
Bishnoi said vehicles in eastern Assam were plying with police escort, although the traffic was less on the highways.
The northern Rangapara area of Sonitpur district remained under curfew, imposed last week after agitators clashed with local residents, injuring several people.
Trouble began Nov 24 when tribal protesters who had gathered for a rally to push for Scheduled Tribe status resorted to vandalism in Guwahati leading to a massive retaliation by area residents.
One tribal protester had died and more than 250 others injured in the free for all that followed.
The Assam government has since announced a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the Guwahati clashes and promised exclusive economic packages for the tea garden community as well as five other ethnic groups.