'Implement clauses of BTR Accord in time-bound manner'

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: In support of various demands, the All Bodo Students' Union (ABSU), the United Bodo People's Organization (UBPO) and ex-National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) factions today staged a massive protest in New Delhi.

The activists later submitted a memorandum to Piyush Goyal, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs (NE). In the memorandum, the organizations demanded that the clauses of the BTR Accord must be implemented soon in a time-bound manner. They stated that even though two-and-half years had elapsed since the signing of the BTR Accord, the government was yet to implement all the clauses of the Accord.

The organizations also demanded that villages in the Sonitpur, Biswanath and part of Lakhimpur districts which were inhabited by Bodo and tribal people should be included in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR). They demanded that initiative must be taken to grant ST (Hills) status to Bodo Kachari people living in the Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao districts.

The memorandum stated that former NDFB leader Ranjan Daimary must be released immediately as he was one of the signatories of the BTR Accord. The organizations also demanded that all cases against former NDFB members must be withdrawn in a phased manner.

Other demands included ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the next kin of all martyrs of the Bodoland Movement with financial assistance from the Union and State governments, and special recruitment of Bodo youths in Central Armed Police Force, defence and Assam Police etc.

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