The Telegraph reports that train
services were disrupted
in the morning of July
12 after the Non-Bodo
Suraksha Samiti staged
a rail blockade at Baihata
station under Rangiya
sub-division of Kamrup
District to protest
against the demand for
a separate Bodoland,
among others. The Samiti
submitted a memorandum
to Governor J.B. Patnaik,
through the local administration,
that voiced their opposition
to the alleged move
to bifurcate Assam and
sought the removal of
villages with over 51
per cent non-Bodo population
from the Bodoland Territorial
Areas District (BTAD).
It also wanted withdrawal
of Sixth Schedule status
accorded to the BTAD
because it is located
in the plains and not
in the hills as “mandated”
in the Constitution.
Khorsan Ali, vice-president
of the Samiti, said
they had no option but
to hit the streets because
the non-Bodos had been
deprived of all basic
Government facilities,
were victims of extortion
and slowly but steadily
Assamese was being replaced
by Bodo language. “Under
the prevailing circumstances,
it is difficult to live
in BTAD areas. Therefore,
we should be excluded
from it,” he said.
Meanwhile, the people of Barak Valley have
strongly protested against
the proposal to carve
out 26 villages of Cachar
District and add them
to the proposed Dimaraji
Territorial Council
(DTC), reports The
Times of India.
A senior leader of the
Cachar Bibhajan-Birodhi
Manch, an organization
that is fighting any
attempt to divide Cachar
District, said, "We
have come to understand
that at least 19 of
the Cachar district
villages proposed to
be included in the DTC
have only six per cent
Dimasa population.”
"We can't allow
such a move to materialize.
We will not allow the
government to give away
villages with a small
Dimasa population to
the Dimasa council area,"
he said. A number of
organizations sent a
memorandum to Union
home minister P Chidambaram
against the proposal.
The memo sent to Chidambaram
was signed by people
from Bengali, Hmar,
Naga, Manipuri and other
non-Dimasa communities.
Separately, the 12-hour Assam strike which
began at 5 am on July
12 called by the Adivasi
Ceasefire Co-ordination
Organisation to put
pressure on the Government
to fulfil their various
demands, including conferring
Scheduled Tribes (ST)
status to the community,
evoked mixed response
in the Bodo belt and
the lower Assam Districts,
reports The Telegraph.
The strike came in the
wake of the organisation’s
leaders canvassing in
New Delhi to participate
in the peace talks with
the officials of the
Ministry of Home Affairs
(MHA) to work out solutions
to their demands. A
10-member delegation
of the organisation,
led by Adivasi Cobra
Militant of Assam ‘commander-in-chief’
Kanhu Murmu and chief
convener of the organisation
met Sambhu Singh, joint
secretary for home affairs
of northeastern region,
in New Delhi on July
11 and discussed the
community issues, including
granting of ST status
to the community. Sources
in the organisation
said the MHA responded
on a positive note and
promised to solve their
problems as early as
possible. |
