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Sunday, Oct 28, 2007
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Bus torched in Assam

Special Correspondent

Guwahati: Thirty-eight passengers, most of them brickkiln workers, were injured when miscreants torched a bus late on Friday night.

The private bus with 59 people on board was coming from Coochbehar district of West Bengal when it was stopped by miscreants.

Supporters of a highway blockade, called by the Biswajit faction of the All Koch Rajbongshi Students’ Union (AKRSU), stopped the bus, bound for Lakhimpur, at Golokganj, Principal Secretary, Home, Subhas Das told The Hindu.

Mr. Das said that barring three passengers, others sustained minor burns.

The three passengers also were discharged from a hospital on Saturday morning, he said.

The police have arrested 14 persons in this connection, the Principal Secretary said.

The blockade, which entered the 11th day, has been called to press for inclusion of the Koch-Rajbanghsis in the list of the Scheduled Tribes and creation of a separate Kamatapur state to be craved out of North Bengal and Assam.

Mr. Das said the police reported to him that the bus driver ignored the directive to wait for an escort party at the Buxirhat check-post along the Assam-West Bengal border.

The police said that more than 50 vehicles, including public carriers and trucks carrying essential commodities, have been damaged so far in stone-pelting and incidents of arson.

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