Guwahati: Normal life was hit in BJP-ruled Assam Monday by Congress' six-hour 'Bharat Bandh' to protest "rising fuel prices, inflation and a weakening of rupee".
Congress workers attempted to stop movement of trains by squatting on the railway tracks and tried to block national highways and main roads across the state by burning tyres and setting up bamboo barricades, police said.
In Guwahati, Assam Congress president and Rajya Sabha MP Ripun Bora along with party in-charge for the state Harish Rawat led hundreds of sloganeering party workers during a rally this morning. The protesters tried to forcibly enter the state secretariat, officials said.
However, they were prevented by the police and security forces from entering the secretariat. The protesters were taken into preventive custody for violating section 144 of CrPC and for not giving prior information to the authorities about their protest rally. The agitators were later released, officials said.
Some private buses were stoned in Guwahati's Adabari area, police reports said.
Several agitators were picked up from various places in the state for blocking roads and attempting to shut shops but they were released later, the reports added.
The bandh affected transport facilities in the state as private long distance and city buses kept off the roads, officials said. Vehicles travelling on highways moved in convoys with police escort, the police reports said.
School, college students as well as officer-goers using public transport faced difficulty due to non-availability of transport facilities, official sources said. Government-run buses, however, operated as usual, the sources added.
Shops and business establishments in many places, including in several parts of Guwahati, remained closed, police reports said.
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