Army: Situation in Assam, Tripura improving quickly
Noting the improvement in the situation, he also indicated of withdrawal of the Army from Assam within next two days as the situation normalises.
Kolkata: At a time when West Bengal continues to be on the boil with largescale vandalism of public properties over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), the situation has been rapidly improving in Assam and Tripura following the deployment of Indian Army columns to tackle the massive mob violence which broke out in the two Northeastern states last week.
General Officer commanding-in-Chief of the eastern command Lieut-enant General Anil Chauhan informed this at the Vijay Diwas Celebr-ations at the Eastern Command Headquarters, Fort William on Monday.
Noting the improvement in the situation, he also indicated of withdrawal of the Army from Assam within next two days as the situation normalises.
Lt. Gen. Chauhan said, “For the past three days Army columns have been deployed in Assam and Tripura. Some columns have been kept on standby also in Meghalaya but they were not deployed ultimately. Initially, the day before yesterday, there were almost 24 columns which were requisitioned in Upper Assam and 12 columns were requisitioned in Lower Assam.”
He elaborated, “But physically on the ground for flag march and other purpose, the number has been much less, eight columns which came down to four or five. That indicates how fast the situation is improving. Hopefully in a day or two, the Army columns will be back in their barracks as the situation becomes normal.”
Asked if the West Bengal government also sought the Army’s help to tackle violence in the state, the Eastern Army Commander explained, “You are aware that wherever the Army goes out in aid to civil authorities, there has to be a requisition from the state government. When a state is not being able to tackle the situation and it requires the Army’s help, only then the Army reaches out.”
He added, "In this particular case (North East), the Army was deployed after the states exhausted its options. The Army columns' deployment has been primarily to help the state administration to maintain the law and order." Lt Gen Chauhan later announced that Vijay Smarak, the war memorial at Fort William would be open on Sundays and holidays for the common people to visit.