About 1,000 paramilitary personnel have been sent to tackle the situation in Shillong which has been on the edge following clashes between residents of the city’s Punjabi Line area and Khasi drivers of state-run buses.
Top officials of the Union Home Ministry were getting regular information about the prevailing situation in the Meghalaya capital from State government officials.
A Ministry official said the forces have been sent to Shillong at the request of the state government.
Another official said around 10 companies of paramilitary forces have been sent to Meghalaya. A company comprises of 100 personnel.
The Meghalaya capital was under curfew on Saturday following clashes between police and locals all through Friday.
Flag march by Army
Late on Friday night, the Army carried out a flag march in various localities.
This hill town has been in the grip of violence since Thursday.
An earlier report from our Correspondent Rahul Karmakar says:
A clash broke out between drivers of State transport buses and residents of Them Iew Mawlong locality, also known as Sweeper’s Lane, on Thursday afternoon.
An incident of eve-teasing allegedly involving a conductor of one of the buses and a girl of the locality was said to be the trigger of the clash between the tribal people and Dalits. Some claimed the fight started after women of the locality objected to the parking of a bus that blocked the way to a water collection point.
In that scuffle, a tribal boy in the bus got injured.
However, rumours on social media about the death of a tribal man led to communal tensions in Shillong