Hagrama Mohilary (third from left) meets Sanjoy Kumar Roy’s family at Dimalgaon in Kokrajhar. Roy was thrown off a train while returning from Andhra Pradesh. Picture by UB Photos

Guwahati/Dhubri, Aug. 21: Rehabilitation of the riot-affected topped the discussions between chief minister Tarun Gogoi and Bodoland People’s Front chief Hagrama Mohilary in Guwahati this evening.

As Gogoi chalked out steps to ensure early rehabilitation, inmates of relief camps in Dhubri told a visiting six-member team of joint secretaries from four Union ministries that they could not return home without foolproof security.

The Gogoi-Mohilary talks assume significance in light of the fact that the chief minister invited the BPF chief for discussions despite the apparent differences between them over rehabilitation.

The government wants immediate rehabilitation of the affected, while the BPF, a coalition partner in the Gogoi government, and other Bodo groups are insisting on proper verification of their citizenship before rehabilitation.

Transport minister Chandan Brahma of the BPF, who attended the meeting, told The Telegraph, “We discussed the overall situation, which is cooling down, and creating a conducive atmosphere wherein all sides can sit and mutually resolve the problem, including the rehabilitation issue.”

Dispur fears that delay in rehabilitation will not only keep the Bodo belt on the boil but also give Congress’s rivals the opportunity to exploit the situation to show the party and the government in poor light in the run-up to the 2014 parliamentary elections.

At present, there are 2,20,844 riot-displaced people in 224 camps. Initially, there were 340 camps housing 4,85,921 people. Dispur had earlier fixed August 15 as the deadline to send them home.

A source said today’s discussion, which stressed on restoring peace at the earliest, was crucial. “Gogoi strove to bring Dispur and BTC on the same page over BTAD. He has already taken the first step by asserting that there is no move to either scrap or suspend the BPF-ruled BTC at the moment despite demands to dissolve it over alleged administrative lapses. Besides rehabilitation, law and order and other related issues were also discussed. Startling facts are coming up every day on the law and order front,” a source said.

Dispur has already got the CBI to probe seven cases and has instituted a judicial probe, expecting to get to the bottom of things.

Gogoi has also asked his ministers and MLAs to actively monitor the situation and coordinate with the administration to restore peace, which remains his top priority. He is also tapping into expert advice outside government circles.

The central team that visited relief camps in Dhubri today was led by R.K. Srivastava, joint secretary, disaster management. Its other members are S.S. Mathur (drinking water), Ravi Mittal (Planning Commission), R.S. Sukla (health), Naveen Prakash (food) and Rajesh Bhusan (rural development).

In a brief interaction with reporters at the Dhubri circuit house this evening, Srivastava said they had visited some camps and inspected the ground situation. “We will now discuss with officials in Dhubri about their (inmates of camps) rehabilitation with security.” The team visited a relief camp at Machpara (Bangalipara) and three others in Bilasipara town. Srivastava asked the camp inmates about their well-being and willingness to return home.

“We have no complaints about supply of relief materials here but can return home only if foolproof security is ensured,” an inmate of Bilasipara Indra Narayan Academy relief camp said. Others echoed him.

Dhubri deputy commissioner Kumud Chandra Kalita and superintendent of police Pradip Chandra Saloi accompanied the team, which will leave for Kokrajhar via Chirang, Baksa and Bongaigaon tomorrow morning. Sources in Dispur said the team members would meet officials in Guwahati on Thursday.

Joint secretary (Northeast) in the home ministry, Shambhu Singh, who was earlier scheduled to lead the team, had to cancel his visit at the last moment. “Some last moment engagement came up for which I had to postpone the visit. As of now, I will visit Assam on August 23,” he told The Telegraph over phone from Delhi.

The government today appointed veteran legislator Bhumidhar Barman as special representative of the chief minister to look after relief and rehabilitation in BTAD and adjoining areas. “Barman is quite experienced in this area. He was the relief and rehabilitation minister in the last government and had successfully resolved rehabilitation problems during the Bongaigaon-Kokrajhar riots in the nineties,” a source said.

Barman is also familiar with the problems in the Bodo belt because he had played an active role in the lead up to the 1993 and 2003 Bodo Accords.

The government has decided to send parliamentary secretaries Bidya Singh Engleng, Bibekananda Doley and Bhupen Borah with Assam PCC office-bearers to the riot-affected districts to take stock of relief distribution.

“The party and the government are working closely on relief and rehabilitation, which remains its pressing concern. This is something the chief minister has insisted on whenever confronted by the media to reveal the status of health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Barman will be the chief minister’s emissary directly in dealing with the twin issues,” a party insider said.

Sarma, who submitted his resignation to Gogoi on August 15, will return on Thursday after an “apolitical” trip to Jammu and Chandigarh.