Security beefed for PM's visit to Assam, ULFA calls bandh

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Security has been beefed up in Assam in view of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh day-long visit on Friday with the ULFA's anti-talk faction calling a 12-hour Assam bandh in protest.

Police and para-military personnel have been posted on all major thoroughfares, vital installations and patrolling has been intensified throughout the state, official sources said.

A security alert has been sounded throughout the state with police and security forces kept on high alert to thwart any subversive attempt by the ULFA and all forces engaged in counter-insurgency operations are meeting regularly to coordinate operations and share intelligence.

According to intelligence sources, there are reports that the ULFA cadre have been directed to target oil installations, pipelines, railway tracks, security personnel, police stations and outposts along with other vital installations.

The anti-talk ULFA faction has called for a 12-hour state-wide beginning at 0500 hrs tomorrow to protest against Singh's visit.

The Prime Minister, who represents Assam in the Rajya Sabha, is scheduled to arrive here on Friday at 10.50 am at the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport from where he would fly in a helicopter and land at the Nehru Stadium, Kamrup (Metro) Deputy Commissioner A. Agnihotri told reporters here on Thursday.

The Prime Minister would immediately leave for B. Barooah Cancer Institute where he is scheduled to inaugurate two new facilities for cancer patients.

Singh would subsequently leave for Dispur Secretariat Ground where he would address the gathering on the occasion of the Assam Legislative Assembly Platinum Jubilee Celebrations.

The Prime Minister will leave for Raj Bhavan for lunch and a meeting with the state cabinet. The Prime Minister would return to the Nehru Stadium from where he would leave for the airport by a chopper and subsequently depart for New Delhi by 5 pm, Agnihotri said.

The district administration has made elaborate security arrangements at all the venues of the Prime Minister's programmes with traffic being either diverted or controlled along the roads through which the convoy will pass, Guwahati Senior Superintendent of Police Apurba Jibon Baruah said.

Public have been also directed to avoid parking vehicles on certain roads and localities. The Northeast Frontier Railway has cancelled 11 trains and rescheduled four others following security threat in Assam till April 20.

A powerful Improvised Explosive Device (IED), weighing more than three kgs, was recovered today from railway tracks in lower Assam's Chirang district.