Duliajan (Assam), Jan 4 (PTI) The Assam government will henceforth petition the court for recovery of financial losses and damages caused by shut downs in line with previous court orders empowering governments to do it, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Tuesday.

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Shut downs and forcible collection of ‘chanda' (contributions) are creating negative impact on the state's image and dissuading prospective investors, he said.

“Assam cannot prosper with bandh culture … People should not take law into their own hands. If they have grievances, they should approach the government,” Sarma told reporters at the end of a two-day conference of superintendents of police here.

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If the government fails to act, the people could then take the path of agitation, he said.

Sarma said the Gauhati High Court had ruled against bandhs and said the government can recover the losses due to it from the organisation or individual who called it. But the government has not taken the step yet.

“But from now we will petition the court against any organisation or individual that calls a bandh for recovery of loss or damages caused due to the bandh ... We cannot stop someone from calling a bandh, but the court has told us what the government can do,” he added.

The Dibrugarh Police had last month slapped a legal notice on All Assam Students' Union general secretary Sankar Jyoti Baruah for a district bandh called by the organisation over the arrest of some of its members following an alleged scuffle.

The notice had said action under Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984, will be taken against Baruah and compensation against damage will be recovered from AASU in case there is any damage to public or private property or injury to any citizen caused due to the shut down.

The chief minister said that frequent bandhs as well as collection or demand of monetary contributions from business establishments by different organisations of the state was having a negative impact on its overall image.

“Investors are hesitant to come and begin businesses due to these bandhs and ‘chanda' (contributions). We need to stop these,” he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)