Guwahati

Members of the Raijor Dal staged multiple protests near the Assam Secretariat and the adjoining ministers' colony here on Thursday, demanding enhanced and prompt compensation for flood-affected people in the state's eastern districts, even as party president and Sivasagar MLA Akhil Gogoi's indefinite sit-in entered its seventh day.

Members of the opposition party assembled in groups of 50 to 100 at three to four locations near the Secretariat at different times since morning to register their protest.

Security personnel, however, foiled their attempts and took several protesters into preventive detention.

The protesters were seen engaging in scuffles with security personnel, who dragged and lifted some of them into buses in which they were taken away.

The protesters alleged that the state government had failed to provide adequate financial assistance to flood-affected people even more than two-and-a-half months after devastating floods hit the eastern parts of Assam.

"We had to come from our homes to demand what is rightfully ours. The government has left us to our own devices after we lost everything in the floods," a protester said.

Gogoi, who has been observing an "indefinite satyagraha" on the premises of the state Assembly since October 2, claimed that several party leaders were injured during the police action.

He shared photographs of the leaders being treated at the hospital while in detention, and alleged that there was much delay in providing medical care to the injured.

"We will continue our movement till the government declares time-bound disbursement of financial aid," the MLA asserted.

He had said on Monday that his protest would turn into a mass movement if Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma failed to announce time-bound disbursement of the assistance by October 7.

"The chief minister must say on record that the Rs 15,000 interim grant for all flood-hit families of Sivasagar, Charaideo and Jorhat districts will be given within 24 hours of his announcement. The additional Rs 10,000 compensation he announced for families in Sivasagar and Charaideo should be paid within 48 hours," Gogoi had said.

"The minimum Rs 10 lakh compensation per family for these three districts that we have demanded should be paid by October 31. The state government should also assure a CBI inquiry into the circumstances leading to this year's devastating floods," he had said.

Gogoi maintained that he would immediately end his protest once the CM made the announcements and would not claim any credit for the assistance reaching the affected people.

Sarma had on Sunday said the disbursement of financial assistance to flood-hit people in the eastern districts was being delayed so that Gogoi could not claim credit for its release.

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At least 108 people have died in the floods in Assam this year, while houses, schools, roads, embankments, cattle sheds, fisheries and health centres were among the infrastructure damaged in the deluge.