A CORRESPONDENT
SILCHAR: Welcoming the announcement made by the Chief Minister, Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, that no village of Lakhipur would be merged with Dima Hasao, the Cachar Bibhajan Birodhi Mancha expressed concern over the administrative steps being taken for the merger of 19 villages. The Chief Minister during his two-day visit to Baral Valley had guaranteed that not a single village of Cachar would go to the neighbouring district. On the other hand, Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev challenged the Chief Minister, asking him to prove his announcement by producing a written government order. Sarma however said that, being the Chief Minister, his verbal statement was much more authentic than the written order as in the latter case there was a chance of his signature being doctored.
Recently, the Barak Upatyaka Banga Sahitya Sammelon convened an all community meeting to build up a consensus to oppose the move to merge 19 villages with Dima Hasao. A steering committee was formed in that meeting which had already submitted memoranda to both the Union and State governments. In 2023, a tripartite treaty was signed by the Union and State governments with two Dimasa militant outfits after they surrendered arms. The treaty had a clause that almost 100 villages of Cachar would be merged with Dima Hasao. The state government constituted a commission with the Additional Chief Secretary as the head which recently asked the concerned district administrations to initiate preparatory ground survey for handing over of 19 villages in Lakhipur constituency in the first phase. This triggered much tension in the locality adjacent to Dima Hasao.
Barak Valley Development Department Minister Kaushik Rai, who represents Lakhipur in the state assembly, however assured that not a single village would go to Dima Hasao. Rai further claimed that representatives of various Dimasa communities outside Cachar district had met the Chief Minister and stated that they were not in favour of such a merger.
However, the newly-formed platform consisting of all communities expressed doubts over such verbal assurances as they argued that the tripartite treaty was signed in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and CM Himanta Biswa Sarma.
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