Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Saturday admitted that the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom has intensified the extortion in tea garden areas and business hubs of the state besides trying to recruit new cadres.
He told reporters, “Yes, we have inputs on outlawed Ulfa rebels slapping extortion notices to tea companies and business house across the state but many of them are fake also.”
As it was reported by this newspaper earlier, the Ulfa rebels have served extortion notices to tea companies and business houses with amount ranging from Rs 5 lakhs to Rs 30 lakhs.
He, however, claimed that security forces have been asked to take the necessary measures to check it. In one of such incident on Thursday, heavily armed Ulfa rebels entered the Luit tea garden in Upper Assam’s Tinsukia district and went on a rampage, burning three vehicles and physically assaulting the plantation manager and two other workers.
The garden manager, Sandhan Kumar Tamuly, who was critically wounded by Ulfa rebels, told reporters, “The Ulfa rebels had demanded money from us but the garden management was ignoring it. The Ulfa rebels opened fire in the air and beat me up with sticks and set ablaze the vehicles.”
Mr Gogoi, however, refused to elaborate in detail on Ulfa’s recruitment drive but said that security forces are taking the steps to check it. “There were reports in local media on Ulfa rebels forcing youths in Majuli island of Jorhat district to join the outfit,” security sources said, adding that they have received inputs on some boys joining the outfit.