Sonia Gandhi to visit relief camps in Assam today

New Delhi, Aug 13 (ANI): Congress president Sonia Gandhi will make her first visit today to riot-hit Assam, almost three weeks after it was affected by ethnic violence that left 77 people dead.

Gandhi, who will be accompanied by Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, is expected to visit relief camps housing members of Bodo and Muslim communities affected by the violence.

Meanwhile, the situation in violence hit Bodoland Territorial Area District (BTAD) has improved as no untoward incident has been reported, and security personnel have also been deployed at 104 fixed pickets.

District administrations have closed 101 camps so far. Assam government has ordered a judicial enquiry into the BTAD and Dhubri district violence. CBI is also investigating seven cases.

Earlier, the Home Ministry said the situation in the Northeastern state was peaceful and under control and 170 people were arrested after registration of 309 cases there.

In a statement, the ministry on Saturday said that by and large normalcy has restored in Kokrajhar and other violence-affected districts.

"104 fixed police pickets have already been established. At present, the security situation in Assam is peaceful and under control. 65 additional companies of Central Armed Police Forces have been deployed. In addition, Army has also been deployed in the violence-affected areas," it said. (ANI)