Security beefed up after boycott call by militants

Security has been beefed up across Assam and at venues of the Republic Day programmes as Northeast militants, including the banned ULFA, have called for a boycott of the celebrations.

Security has been beefed up across Assam and at venues of the Republic Day programmes as Northeast militants, including the banned ULFA, have called for a boycott of the celebrations.

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Security has been intensified around vital installations such as airports, railway stations, oil drilling sites, refineries, Doordarshan and All India Radio stations, official sources said.

Law enforcement personnel were patrolling highways, bridges, rivers and other vulnerable areas where the insurgents could carry out their subversive activities on and in the run up to Republic Day, the sources said adding that the R-Day celebration parade grounds are under the 24-hour surveillance of security forces.

The militant outfits -- ULFA, Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO), Manipur People's Liberation Front (MPLF), and Tripura People's Democratic Front (TPDF) - in a solidarity statement called for the boycott and also an 18-hour 'general strike' on Republic day from 1 am to 6 pm throughout the region.