Guwahati/Shillong, Nov 28 : The Assam government would provide Rs 14 lakh as financial compensation, and salary till his retirement age and a government job to the family members of Bidyasing Lekhte, the Assam forest guard killed along the Assam-Meghalaya border in the November 22 violence and shooting in which five Meghalaya citizens were also killed, officials said on Sunday.
Assam’s Revenue, Disaster Management and Hills Area Development Minister, Jogen Mohan, and Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) Chief Executive Member, Tuliram Ronghang visited the house of Lekhte and announced Rs 14 lakh as financial compensation and salary till his retirement age and a government job to the victim’s wife.
An official quoting the Assam Minister said that the Forest Department would provide Rs four lakh to Lekhte’s family, while KAAC would give Rs five lakh and the Assam government already announced to provide Rs five lakh each to the family members of all the six deceased persons.
Lekhte’s wife would get the salary till the retirement age of the slain forest guard, the Minister told the family.
Meanwhile, tension has still been prevailing in the Mukroh village in Meghalaya’s West Jaintia Hills district and different parts of the Assam-Meghalaya border, forcing the deployment of additional security forces in the sensitive areas by both the neighbouring states.
The Assam Police and forest guards on November 22 intercepted a truck carrying timber at Mukroh village and after which a large number of people from the village reached the spot and surrounded the police and forest guards leading to firing by the Assam Police.
Responding to the Meghalaya government’s demand, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on November 24 assured a ministerial delegation of the northeastern state headed by Chief Minister Conrad K.Sangma that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) would probe the firing by the Assam Police.
The Assam government has also requested the Centre for an enquiry by the CBI into the incident.
The Trinamool Congress’s National Spokesman Saket Gokhale criticising the Union Home Minister over the Assam-Meghalaya border violence on Sunday tweeted: “Home Minister Amit Shah hasn’t uttered a word on the Mukroh village tragedy! Their priorities are crystal clear! We ask — do the lives of people in Meghalaya mean nothing to you? Yet again, the double-engine government has failed.”
The Meghalaya Pradesh Congress demanded Chief Minister Sangma and his council of ministers to resign to pave the way for a new government to protect the citizens of the state, especially those residing along the inter-state border with Assam.
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