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Trinamool Congress leaders MP Derek O’Brien and Mamata Bala Thakur meet the family members of those who were killed by suspected ULFA militants, at Dhola in Tinsukia district, Sun., Nov 4[/caption]
Tinsukia (Assam), Nov. 4 (PTI): Assam government Sunday handed over cheques of INR 5 lakh as compensation to families of each of the five persons, three days after they were killed by unidentified gunmen in the district.
BJP MLA from Sadiya, Bolin Chetia, visited the victims’ houses and gave the cheques.
“I have handed over the cheques that the state government had announced after the massacre,” Chetia told reporters after meeting the victim families.
The Assam government had announced a compensation of INR 5 lakh and a job for the next of the kin of the deceased.
Three members of a family were among five people shot dead by suspected ULFA (Independent) gunmen while two others were injured at Kheroni in the district Thursday night, police said.
TMC delegation meets families of deceased
A four-member Trinamool Congress delegation Sunday met the family members of the five people killed by suspected militants in Tinsukia district of Assam, and demanded that the perpetrators of “hate crimes” be immediately brought to book.
Led by Derek O’Brien, the TMC parliamentary party leader in Rajya Sabha, the team comprises Lok Sabha MP Mamata Bala Thakur, Rajya Sabha MP Nadimul Haq and MLA Mahua Moitra, which went to Kheronibari village in the district to meet the family members.
“We spoke to the family members and assured them of all assistance. We want justice for these families and will not stop our fight until and unless the perpetrators of hate crimes are punished,” O’Brien told PTI.
According to TMC sources, the party has given INR 1 lakh to each family as aid.
“This is a humanitarian visit. This is a visit to stand with the grieving families,” the TMC leader had told reporters earlier Sunday outside the airport here.
Strongly condemning the incident, O’Brien said, “What has happened is a dastardly killing of the most deprived and poorest Indian citizens... They have been murdered in cold blood.”
A TMC delegation of six MPs had gone to Silchar on August 2 to assess the situation in Assam in the wake of the publication of the complete draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) on July 30, but was stopped at the airport.
Intellectuals from Kolkata take out protest rally
Prominent intellectuals of the city took out a rally here on Sunday to protest against the recent killing of five Bengali speaking people in Tinsukia district of Assam. Such attacks are aimed at creating fissures among different communities, the speakers said at the rally.
Poet Subodh Sarkar said those behind the gunning down of five innocent persons at Kheronibari village in Assam wanted to polarise people along communal lines.
He called for defeating the gameplan of such forces and save the country.
Eminent economist Abhirup Sarkar said people of West Bengal will stand united against sectarian and divisive forces. If such attacks were not checked, the country will face a grave crisis, Sarkar said at the rally held beside the Academy of Fine Arts in the central part of the city.
Painter Suvaprasanna condemned the attack on the poor people and asserted that Bengal would stood by them in such hour. Singer Pratul Mukhopadhyay, film personality Dipankar Dey were among others present at the protest organised by a forum of intellectuals, close to the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).