GUWAHATI: Vehicles were damaged while train passengers stranded during a 12-hour bandh, called by a youths’ organisation, in Arunachal Pradesh capital Itanagar on Friday.
The protestors, who are members of All Nyishi Youth Association (ANYA), damaged the vehicles, including SUVs, by pelting stones. At some places, they intercepted vehicles and damaged them under the nose of security personnel.
Early in the morning, the protestors burnt tyres on the roads to prevent the movement of vehicles. They attacked some vehicles which were on the road. The authorities had fanned out a large number of security personnel in the town to thwart the bandh.
Fearing trouble, shopkeepers downed their shutters. Attendance in government offices was thin.
At Naharlagun railway station, some 18 km downhill of Itanagar, hundreds of passengers were stranded.
The ANYA called the bandh demanding, among others, the suspension and arrest of some top officials of Arunachal Pradesh Staff Selection Board (APSSB) for allegedly indulging in malpractice in the conduct of an examination for recruitment of lower division clerks and junior secretariat assistants.
The officials have since been relieved from their respective posts but the protestors are not amused.