The 48-hour bandh has been called by the All Assam Tea Tribes Students Association to protest against the incident.
Upper Assam's Tinsukia town is shut today -- a day after
11 people died and 19 were injured as a high voltage cable fell on a group of protesters in Pengiri following police firing. Ten of the deceased were electrocuted, one fell to police bullets.
The 48-hour bandh has been called by the All Assam Tea Tribes Students Association to protest against the incident. It coincides with an indefinite curfew imposed in Pengiri police station.
All shops except chemists were shut. Hundreds of commuters were stranded as buses did not move, even at the State Transport Corporation Depot.
Even in Assam's oil refinery Digboi, 35 km from Pengiri, shops are shut and roads deserted. No violence has been reported so far. On the road that connects Tinsukia to Digboi, hundreds of women and men have created pickets at many locations, preventing the movement of vehicles. Only ambulances are exempt.
"We blame the police because first of all they should not have allowed the crowd close to the police station. Secondly, there was no justification at all for firing at the protestors," Bipul Kurmi, secretary of the All-Assam Tea tribe students Union. The union has demanded Rs 10 lakh as compensation for those who died.
"Whoever is responsible, even if it is someone from the administration, we will not spare that person. We are arranging for specialised medical treatment for those injured. One of them will also be flown to Delhi. We have announced Rs 5 lakh compensation for each of those killed," said Assam minister Atuwa Munda.
The police had opened fire to disperse a group of armed protesters, who had ransacked the Pengiri police station and attacked them.
They were demanding those arrested in connection with the murder of two persons in the area be handed over to them, the police said.
But some of the police bullets, fired in air, had hit an electric pole, which collapsed and the high tension wire fell on the protesters.
Five persons had been arrested in the case.