TINSUKIA: Army and police personnel were today maintaining vigil at Pangeree in Assam's Tinsukia district following the death of 11 people after a high voltage wire fell on them when police fired in the air to disperse them.
An indefinite curfew clamped since last evening and a 48-hr bandh called by a tea tribes' body were on.
Additional Superintendent of Police Lamhao Doungel said today that army personnel along with policemen were on the roads and sensitive areas to instill confidence among the people and maintain peace in the area.
The situation, he said, was under control with no fresh incident of unrest.
The indefinite curfew imposed by district Deputy Commissioner Puru Gupta since 5 PM yesterday was still on in the area.
Meanwhile, a 48-hour Tinsukia district bandh called by the All Assam Tea Tribes Students Association (AATTSA) from 7 AM today to protest against the incident, where the victims were from the tea tribe community, evoked mixed response.
Educational institutions, markets, banks and private offices remained closed in the bandh-hit areas, while government offices functioned normally, official sources said.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident and appealed to the people to exercise restraint and maintain peace and tranquillity, besides asking the Tinsukia Deputy Commissioner to maintain law and order.
Eleven persons, including six women, died and 20 others seriously injured after the high voltage electric wire fell on them as police opened fire to quell protestors vandalising Pengeree Police Station.
About 3000 protestors armed with matchets and canes had yesterday pelted stones and broken glass windows of the police station demanding that the assailants of two persons killed three days ago be handed over to them for punishment.
As the mob turned violent, the police had fired in the air and the bullets hit an overhead high tension electric wire causing it to snap and fall on the demonstrators killing nine of them on the spot and two others in hospital.