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Kokrajhar, Sept. 22: Assam revenue minister Prithibi Majhi, who is also chairman of a group of ministers, said the rehabilitation process of people affected by riots in Kokrajhar, Chirang and Dhubri is taking time because of proper verification of the papers in identifying the genuine Indian citizens.
He said so far nearly 18,000 families have been found having land pattas and will be rehabilitated in the first phase in the Kokrajhar district after proper verification.
The revenue minister, along with the minister for agriculture Nilomoni Sen Deka, today visited Kokrajhar and met senior BTC and district administration officials on the progress of the rehabilitation process. BTC principal secretary M.C. Sahu, Kokrajhar deputy commissioner Jayant Narlikar, superintendent of police Susil Kumar and others officers of BTC were present in the meeting.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Majhi said the visit was to see the progress of the rehabilitation process. “This visit is a round-up of the earlier meeting to see the process and development so that rehabilitation can be done quickly. Till now around 18,000 families were found with land pattas and that will be scrutinised and these families would be taken back to their own land and rehabilitated within a short period,” Majhi said. The state govt alone could not do rehabilitation work without the BTC council’s help, he added.
On the question of some inmates in relief camps in Dhubri district fleeing from the camps Majhi said, “I only saw news reports about thousands of Muslim inmates missing from Dhubri relief camps. If someone had fled, no one can do anything. I can only say that all the inmates in the camps will be properly verified and rehabilitated to their respective villages.”
On starting classes in schools which were still housing relief inmates, Majhi said those who are still in relief camps in schools would be asked to vacate them within a short period of time.
“The education minister took initiatives to solve the problems and hopefully the classes will start as soon as camps are shifted,” he said.
There are 42 relief camps in Kokrajhar district, among which 10 are in Kokrajhar subdivision, three in Parbatjhora and 19 in Gossaigaon subdivision. Altogether 55,238 families have taken shelter in these camps, among which 14,151 are Bodos and 40,987 Muslims.
The agriculture minister said steps would be taken to see that the farmers who were affected by the violence will be helped to overcome the loss.
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