STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: In its meeting at the State Secretariat here today after a year, the Sub-committee on Implementation of the Assam Accord decided to prepare its report within a month to hand it over to the Chief Minister. The members of the subcommittee expressed unhappiness over the NRC (National Register of Citizens) published in 2019.
At the directive of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the State Government formed a sub-committee comprising the senior leaders of the AASU and Cabinet ministers Atul Bora, Pijush Hazarika, and Ajanta Neog for the implementation of the Assam Accord. The sub-committee had four such meetings earlier, with the last meeting on June 16, 2022. Today was the fifth meeting of the sub-committee.
Addressing the media after the marathon meeting, Assam Accord Implementation Minister and chairman of the sub-committee Atul Bora said, “Due to several technical reasons, the holding of the fifth meeting of the sub-committee took time. However, between the fourth and fifth meetings, the AASU gave us some written suggestions over the implementation of the Assam Accord on February 1, 2023. Since then, we have been examining the suggestions from the AASU and taking the views of various departments into account. Though we have not met for the past year, the work at the department level is going on. We will sit down for the next meeting soon. We have decided to prepare the report within a month and hand it over to the Chief Minister. During the meeting, the AASU leaders expressed their dissatisfaction with the NRC. And our opinion on the NRC is not different from that of the AASU. One of the suggestions of the AASU was the delimitation of the constituencies in Assam. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has already taken initiative towards that end. We feel the delimitation will secure the future of the indigenous people of Assam. The AASU today raised the issue of strengthening the second line of defence along the Indo-Bangladesh border. We have informed the AASU of the Government’s initiative for the setting up of 12 more border outposts. The AASU also raised the demand for the declaration of floods and erosion in Assam as a national problem. Water Resources Minister Pijush Hazarika, who is also a member of the sub-committee, told the AASU at the meeting that the Central Government’s allocation for flood management is Rs 2,500 crore against Rs 500 crore earlier. We feel that the demand for declaring floods a national problem needs more discussion.”
Bora further said, “The AASU also raised the issue of encroachment on xatra lands and several issues relating to the Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra, Madhabdev Kalakshetra, etc.”
When asked if the AASU leaders raised the report of Justice (Retd) Biplab Kumar Sharma’s report on the implementation of Clause VI of the Assam Accord constituted by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, Bora said, “The AASU put forth the suggestions based on the report of Justice (Retd) Biplab Kumar Sharma. I will not make any comment on the report as the MHA formed the high-level committee.”
From the AASU, chief adviser Samujjal Bhattacharjya, adviser Prakash Chandra Das, president in charge Utpal Sarma, and general secretary Sankor Jyoti Baruah took part in the meeting.
After the meeting, Samujjal Bhattacharjya said that they expressed their opinion on the implementation of the Assam Accord at the meeting. He said that they raised issues like the detection and deportation of foreigners, floating BOPs along the refugee border, etc. The student’s body specifically mentioned the need for a treaty between India and Bangladesh for the deportation of Bangladeshi citizens from Assam. It also demanded the Centre and Dispur to move the Supreme Court for re-examination of the erroneous NRC the way the AASU has done. Besides demanding the implementation of the Clause VI of the Assam Accord to provide the indigenous people of the state their constitutional rights, the AASU opposed the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act).
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