GUWAHATI, Dec 16 - The State government has �no issue� with the democratic protests and the Central government will try to open channels of negotiations and reach out to the protesting groups, Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said today.
�The State government has no intention to control the democratic protests. We are giving permissions to them to hold the protests wherever they want� It (CAA) is a Central law and I am sure the Central government will try to open channels of negotiation and reach out to the protestors,� Sarma said.
Briefing journalists on the prevailing situation, Sarma said the State was limping back to normalcy and so the State government has decided to lift curfew during day time.
�The situation is being reviewed regularly. We do not want to stretch these restrictions for long. We hope to restore normalcy very soon. The DCs have been told to withdraw curfew as soon as possible,� he said.
He said a total of 136 cases have been registered over the violent incidents that took place across the State over the last four/ five days. A total of 190 arrests have been made so far and the number of likely to increase as the investigations into the cases progress.
Four persons have died in the clashes with police. Of the remaining 24 patients at GMCH, 13 have been released and 10 still undergoing treatment but they are out of danger. Stating that no decision has been taken yet on releasing compensation to the victims, Sarma, however, said all medical treatment is provided to the injured.
Sarma further said that the government has taken two of the law and order cases � one regarding vandalism at Sankardev Kalakshetra and the other in front of Janta Bhavan � seriously.
�In fact, in both these cases we have seen a pattern after going throught the technical surveillance, available video footages, scrutiny of social media posts and eye-witness accounts. In the Kalakshetra case, the police have identified 24 people. Majority of the people arrested in Guwahati are not permanent residents of the city. They are from districts like Goalpara, Nalbari, Barpeta or Nagaon,� he said.
He said the government would like to probe into the violent incidents and ascertain if they were actually due to people�s anger or if they were incited by a �third force.� For this, he said, the government will institute a high level investigation.
