A six-hour “voluntary” shutter-down protest called by four frontal business organisations of Dimapur district evoked total response from business community on Wednesday with no untoward incident reported in any areas.
Business organisations of Dimapur district– Dimapur Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), Business Association of Nagas (BAN), East Dimapur Business Association (EDBA), Chumukedima Chamber of Commerce and Trade Association (CCCTA) – called for “voluntarily” down shutters to protest against the assault on a business employee in Dimapur by GPRN/NSCN cadres on July 19 last. All business establishments from Dimapur city to Chumukedima and some parts of Jharnapani area remained closed from 12 noon to 6 p.m. while most of the shops remained closed even after the shutdown period ended.
IRB and anti-riot police were deployed at various strategic locations in and around Dimapur city to thwart any untoward incident while paramilitary troops were also seen in and around the town.
A police officer, who was leading a team, said that a team of anti-riot police was kept in standby in case any emergent situation.Dimapur’s Commissioner of Police, Liremo Lotha who was also on the rounds, told Nagaland Post that in addition to the IR companies deployed for area domination, sufficient “internal resources” were deployed. He said police personnel from all the police stations and reserve headquarters were deployed while some available police personnel were kept on standby.
Complete success
Four frontal business organisations stated that all business establishments from Dimapur town to Chumukedima town were completely closed and described it as “complete success”.
Affirming that the Wednesday’s closure was “just a sign of resentment”, the four business bodies said they would go for “full bandhs” if the demands put forth were not met by July 26. Their demands include GPRN/NSCN revoke and nullify the bond agreement signed by Kahoto Zhimo and EDBA president Solomon L. Awomi on August 2, 2014 as both was signed under duress; terminate ‘capt.’ Hutoshe from “active national service” and the state government arrest the perpetrators of the July 19 incident.
Expressing regret for any inconvenience caused, the business bodies appealed to the public and NGOs to come out and cooperate as this inhuman act could happen to any leaders and public alike. In a press release, media cells expressed gratitude to all business establishments for “standing unitedly” and voluntarily closing down their business establishments.