Click to play videoNew Delhi: Protestors in Assam have taken to the streets to block trucks carrying turbines for the Subansiri Dam site, the largest hydro-power project in India.
Wednesday evening's violence in upper Assam's Sinitpur and Lakhimpur was not unexpected. But the police and paramilitary forces lathi charged, fired blanks in the air and then allegedly fired on protestors, leaving hundreds injured.
Undeterred, people protesting against the building of the dam on Subansiri river on the border of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh were back on the streets on Thursday morning and blocked National Highway 52 to stop a truck carrying turbines to the dam.
RTI activist and farmers' rights leader Akhil Gogoi led the protest, in which nearly 20,000 people participated.
"We can never let this happen - we can take two steps backward and the take one step forward. People have come out on streets, Tarun Gogoi cannot take the turbine by violence," said Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti leader AKhil Gogoi.
The protestors have recived full support from Assam's main Opposition party - the Asom Gana Parishad or AGP and even the insurgent group United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).
The protestors have demanded the intervention of CHief Minister Tarun Gogoi. The state government is in a spot, yet the Chief Minister sounded defiant.
"Definitely some protests are there. Inspite of the protests, we want to go ahead," said Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.
As the government is determined to go ahead and the protestors are unwilling to budge, clearly, there is much water left to flow till the controversial Subansiri Dam project is completed.
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