Nagaon, Jan. 17: Five years after embarking on the road to peace, the Karbi militant outfit ? United People?s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS) ? has decided to drop its main demand for an autonomous state and instead settled for additional powers to the existing autonomous council.

The UPDS?s decision was apparently prompted by a spanner in the negotiations with the Centre after the Assam government put its foot down, saying the Karbis were already enjoying vast political rights under the autonomous council and did not need a separate state.

The outfit?s general secretary, Saiding Eh, told The Telegraph today that the new set of proposals would be placed before Delhi during the next round of talks tentatively slated for the end of this month.

The new demands include granting of special financial, legal and political powers to the existing district council which will give the Karbis powers similar to those of an autonomous state.

?We want more powers for the council,? Eh said.

He said the outfit would also seek direct funding from all the ministries instead of the money being routed through Dispur and an end to all interference of the state government in the council?s activities.

The UPDS?s earlier charter of demands ? placed before the Centre on August 1, 2002 ? included a Hemprek Kanthim (homeland), joining of the east and western part of Karbi Anglong with an 8-km-long corridor and special economic package for the overall development of the two hill districts, the other being North Cachar Hills.

The Karbi Anglong District Autonomous Council was formed in 1952 under the Sixth Schedule, comprising 26 constituencies within the hill district. Through another memorandum of understanding between the Autonomous State Demand Committee and New Delhi in 1996, nine additional state government departments were handed over to the hill council, increasing the number of departments under the council to 30.

In March last year, the Bhumidhar Barman-led cabinet sub-committee in its report to New Delhi said as the hill district was enjoying more power than it deserved after the 1996 MoU, the UPDS?s demand for self-rule is unjustified.

?As Dispur does not agree to our proposal for an autonomous state, we are ready to climb down from our demand. But New Delhi has to make the existing system more powerful to save the indigenous tribes from deprivation and exploitation by Dispur since Independence,? Saiding added.

The movement for an autonomous sate for the indigenous tribes of Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills was launched by the ASDC in 1986.