Bodo Bodies Urge Government to Implement Accord and Pass Amendment Bill

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOKRAJHAR: The All-Bodo Students' Union (ABSU), United Bodo People's Organization (UBPO) and Ex-NDFB Welfare Association today staged a sit-in demonstration at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, demanding implementation of the BTR Accord and the 125th Constitutional Amendment Bill to ensure strengthening of the Sixth Schedule councils of the Northeast. Hundreds of activists of Bodo organizations demonstrated in the sit-in.

Talking to this correspondent, ABSU president Dipen Boro said that after the BTR Accord-2020, peace had prevailed in the Bodoland region. "If the government doesn't implement the accord in time, its legitimacy comes under question," he said and added, "The committee formed by the Government of India at the time of the Bodo Accord, 2020, should materialise the clauses of the accord."

The ABSU president said, "The 25th (Constitution) Amendment Bill, 2019, of Article 280 to the sixth schedule of the Indian Constitution to improve the financial resources (financial autonomy) and administrative powers of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTR) is of utmost importance in the ensuing winter session of Parliament. The passage of this bill, the ten autonomous district councils of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram and the time-bound implementation of all clauses of the Bodo Peace Accord, 2020 (BTR Agreement) will see faster development."

   The 125th (Constitution) Amendment Bill, 2019, was tabled in parliament six years ago to strengthen financial resources and administrative powers of ten sixth schedule councils of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. "Half a dozen of the clauses of the Bodo Accord are yet to be implemented," he said and added that the government had assured the Bodo movement groups of speedy and time-bound implementation of the accord before 2026.

The ABSU and other signatory organizations held tripartite review meetings with the government of India and the government of Assam more than 12 times in the presence of the Union Home Secretary, the Additional Secretary to the Northeast, MHA, and the Jt. Secretary, NE, MHA in Delhi. They also met the Union Home Minister more than six times to discuss time-bound implementation of the Bodo Accord and passing of the 125th (Constitution) Amendment Bill, he said.

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