Large-scale arson erupts in Assam's Karbi Anglong district

The police fired in the air today as satellite dishes of the All India Radio were set ablaze here in Karbi Anglong district amidst large-scale arson and escalating violence over the demand for a separate state carved out of two Assam districts on the lines of Telangana.
The agitators defied indefinite curfew here and set on fire the satellite dishes of the AIR station halting broadcast and relay and also torched an 'Assam type' wooden waiting room belonging to the radio station, official sources said.
The police fired in the air near the radio station to disperse the agitators, the sources said.

Buildings of the Public Works Department, Forest and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan offices, constructed of wood, were also set ablaze across the district, the sources said.
The agitators ransacked the office of the Assam Sahitya Sabha here and damaged property and books, they said.
A portion of the railway tracks of the Diphu-Dimapur line was removed at a place between Doldoli and Dhansiri, the sources said.

A 22-year-old college student, Rahul Signa, who was injured in police firing, when he was locking up his father's shop after violence broke out yesterday, died of his injuries late last night, the sources said.

The agitators belonged to the Karbi Students Association, Karbi Riso Adorba, NSUI and other organisations.
With para-military forces on patrol, the district administration had imposed indefinite curfew and called in the Army to assist yesterday.
Meanwhile, the Hills State Democratic Party has called a 100-hour bandh in the two hill districts of Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao from August 5 to reinforce the demand for a separate Karbi Anglong state.