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GUWAHATI: The Assam government on Monday introduced two amendment bills in the Assembly to increase the number of seats in the Deori and Sonowal Kachari autonomous councils.
On the other hand, it also brought in another bill to repeal the Assam Tribal Development Authority Act (ATDA), 1983, as the number of bodies and agencies implementing welfare schemes in plains tribal areas has increased over the years.
Minister for Welfare of Plain Tribes and Backward Classes (WPT&BC) Ranoj Pegu introduced the Bills.
Under 'The Deori Autonomous Council (Amendment) Bill, 2021', it has been proposed to increase the constituencies of elected members to the Deori Autonomous Council from the existing 18 to 22 members and government nominated members from two to four.
Similarly, the Sonowal Kachari Autonomous Council (Amendment) Bill, 2021' seeks to increase the constituencies of elected members from the existing 26 to 32 members while keeping the number of government nominees unchanged at four.
The amendments have been proposed in both cases to more representation to the people of villages predominantly inhabited by Deori, Sonowal Kachari and other Schedule Tribes.
Both the bills will involve additional financial burden on the state exchequer amounting to Rs 1.50 lakh per month each in honorarium.
Further, an amount of Rs 2,280.24 lakh has been proposed for the Deori Autonomous Council, and Rs 3,624.53 lakh for the Sonowal Kachari Autonomous Council in the budget for 2021-22.
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