As the death toll in Assam's ethnic violence mounted to 52, the Union Home Ministry has sent an advisory to the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government asking it to take all necessary steps to protect lives and property of innocent people.

In the advisory, the Centre asked the state government to maintain law and order at any cost and restore normalcy at the earliest, a Home Ministry official said.

However, the advisory was not sent under Article 355, a rarely used Constitutional provision that enables the Centre to issue a direction under which the state should be ruled in accordance with the Constitution, he said.

Sources said the Home Ministry was worried that if the clashes between Bodos and immigrant Muslims was not brought under control immediately, it might engulf more areas and snowball into a major problem.

Taking these facts into consideration, the ministry has asked the state government to deploy adequate forces in the neighbouring districts, the sources said.

The Centre has already dispatched 1,400 paramilitary personnel to the strife-torn state. Sixteen columns of army have also been deployed to assist the local authorities.

Army personnel had also staged flag march in the area to instill confidence among the people.

The toll in violence-hit Udalguri and Darrang districts on Wednesday rose to 52 with the recovery of the body of a woman. Tension had been brewing in the districts following group clashes between the two groups since last Friday.

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Assam violence toll mounts to 52