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Kokrajhar, Sept. 21: Lok Sabha MP from Kokrajhar Sansuma Khunggur Bwiswmuthiary has sought the Centre’s intervention in protecting the tribal belts and blocks of Assam.
Bwiswmuthiary met President Pranab Mukherjee last night and Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde today and submitted memoranda, requesting them to direct the state government to take steps to protect and preserve all the tribal belts and blocks, reserve forests, wastelands and riverine areas in the state from encroachment by illegal migrants and other unauthorised outsiders.
The memorandum contains 20 demands, including relief and rehabilitation for Bodos and other Assam-origin Indian citizens affected by the recent violence in the Bodoland Territorial Areas District (BTAD) that broke out on July 20, Rs 10,000 crore central funds for the purpose, safety and security for these people and prevention of illegal migrants from getting rehabilitated within the BTAD and elsewhere in Assam.
It demands protection and preservation of tribal belts and blocks by implementing the government’s order to check illegal transfer/mutation of lands within it and eviction of unauthorised occupants from these areas.
It also seeks transfer of subjects relating to maintenance of law and order and police and political department to the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) administration, raising of separate Bodoland police force and Bodoland territorial police battalions and setting up of a police commissionerate for the BTAD.
Bwiswmuthiary emphasised the need to screen the credentials of the non-tribal people who were displaced during the BTAD violence according to the provisions of Chapter X of Assam Land and Revenue Regulations, 1886 and Section 3(2)(c) of Foreigners Act, 1946, so that no illegal migrant or unauthorised outsider can take advantage of the rehabilitation process in the BTAD and claim domicile based on fraudulent identity documents.
He demanded a high-level inquiry, headed by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court, into the BTAD violence. Besides preparing a report, the inquiry commission should recommend measures whereby safety and security of life, property, land and ancestral territories of the indigenous Bodos and other peace-loving bonafide Indians living within the BTAD can be ensured and the culprits brought to book, he added.
Bwiswmuthiary said the President and the home minister had assured him that they would look into all the points incorporated in the memorandum. “The President also said he would forward the demands to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh along with his advice for taking appropriate steps,” he added.
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