March 11: An area that has witnessed a rise in cases of robbery and abduction in the past few years and is still nursing the scars of a 16-year-old communal clash certainly deserves a police station, feels the Nagarik Surakha Samity of Bogribari.

Unfortunately, the government does not agree with the citizen’s forum, which has been fighting a proposal to shift a host of government offices and a police station from Bogribari to the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts.

When a volley of protests failed to move the authorities, the Nagarik Surakha Samity sent a memorandum to chief minister Tarun Gogoi through the Dhubri deputy commissioner, stating that Bogribari and its neighbouring areas would be “in peril” if government offices were to be shifted out of the area.

If the current proposal is heeded, the subdivisional officer’s office and the circle office of Bogribari development block will be moved to Kokrajhar district, as will be the police station. The citizens’ forum in its memorandum has stated that Bogribari and its contiguous Angarkata, Makrijhora, Kathalbari, Rajapara, Joypur and Khoraghat have recorded a spurt in law and order problems in the past years. Besides, the area is communally charged — still smarting under the 1992 clash in which a number of people were killed and property worth crores destroyed.

“These (government) offices have been working towards maintaining peace among all sections of people living here. But if these government offices are shifted to BTAD, people of this area will be in peril,” said Amal Kumar Gupta, president of the Nagarik Surakha Samity.

“If the authorities do not take any action and reconsider the decision of shifting of offices to BTAD, people will resort to a democratic movement to retain the offices in Bogribari for the greater interest of the locality,” said Nazrul Islam, secretary of the citizens’ forum.