The Assam government is making all out efforts to foil the Assam bandh called by KMSS and 45 other organisations on Tuesday in protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bil, 2016.
The government led by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has already issued notice to all the departments barring the staff from taking leave.
“Government has made attendance mandatory in offices. In fact, government employees have been warned that they may suffer a pay cut if they don’t report for work on bandh day,” an Assam government official said.
“Not only will there be salary cut, stringent action might be taken by the authorities against absentees,” the official added.
The KMSS and 46 other organisations have called the bandh to protest against the Centres bid to pass the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, in the winter session of Parliament.
Chief Minister Sonowal held a meeting with the party MPS, MLAs and other office bearers on Tuesday here to discuss how to keep the city running and ensure normal functioning of the offices in the state.
State BJP president Ranjit Dass after the meeting told reporters that state government has directed the deputy commissioners and superintendent of police of all districts to ensure normal functioning of offices and business establishments as well as plying of vehicles on roads.
Dass further said bandh culture should be stopped as it hampers the economy of the state.
Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said government cannot endorse bandh as it was declared illegal by Gauhati High Court.
While the DCs have issued circular to government employees to report for duty on Tuesday, police have warned that they will slap cases in case of violence or vandalism that leads to property damage.
KMSS leader Akhil Gogoi said that this was the first time that they had called a bandh and would not call it off as the very “existence of the Assamese people and their identity is at stake”.
Sarma further said that following an assessment of the prevailing law and order situation in the state, permission will not be granted for the November 17 convention organized by the Citizen Right Protection Forum, Assam (CRPFA), a conglomeration of 26 Bengali organisations, in support of the Citizenship Bill.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was introduced in the Lok Sabha to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who fled religious persecution in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan and entered India before December 31, 2014