Cotton students embroiled in cabbie-auto driver clash!

*    Three separate FIRs filed

*    Cab owners say 29 taxies damaged

*    Students’ society says three students injured

*    Cotton College Principal orders inquiry, asks hostel superintendents to submit report and call students’ guardians

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, August 12: A clash over parking between cabbies and autorickshaw drivers in front of Guwahati Railway Station last night escalated into a law-and-order problem in the city as some students of Cotton College were also embroiled in the incident.

It all happened at 11 last night when cabbies of Uber and Ola had a quarrel with autorickshaw drivers over parking in front of the Railway Station last night. Some students of Cotton College, who were present at the spot, got embroiled in the clash. The clash soon turned to be a straight showdown between the students and the cab drivers, leading to a section of hostel inmates of the college to come out and attack Uber and Ola taxies. A coterie of Biranga, who reached the spot at the very moment, also came at the receiving end with the students not sparing them. A section of jourlists also received injuries in the fracas.

The incident reran at noon today when some cabbies of the two taxi agencies were passing by in front of Cotton College. While the cab drivers say that a section of students started pelting stones at them when they were passing by, the students said that the cab drivers were the first to have started pelting stones at them. With the situation escalating into a law-and-order problem, the police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.

Meanwhile, the Sadou Guwahati Cab Malik/Chalak Santha, a jourlist, the authorities of Cotton College filed FIRs in that connection separately at Panbazar police station today. According to an FIR, as many as 29 cabs of Ola and Uber have been damaged in the fracas.

On the other hand, the Cotton College Union Society maintains that the cab drivers were first to have physically assaulted the students, and as many as three students were injured when hit by the cabs. “A section of cab drivers also broke the window screens of Mahendra th Deka Phukan Hostel. When the Hostel Superintendent came out, the cab drivers pelted stones on his face too, prompting the students to come out,” the Union Society said in a press release.

Cotton College Principal Dr. Nirada Devi termed the incident as unfortute and a matter of shame. She said that a two-member committee has been set up to inquire into the incident. “If the report holds the students responsible, they will be punished,” she said. She has also requested the superintendents of the college hostels to submit a report on the incident and the list of students who had gone out of their hostels at night. She has also requested them to call their guardians to a meeting in that connection on August 13, 2016.