BTAD not being upgraded to UTC: Assam Police

Guwahati, November 17, 2018:

Following the reports of the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) into a Union Territorial Council (UTC), the Assam Police in a statement clarified that there are no such arrangements made as confirmed to them by the Interlocutor of peace talks, AB Mathur.

The Assam Police in a statement said, “It has come to our notice that some organizations like Koch Rajbongshi Sanmilani, Aboro Suraksha Samiti, All Koch Rajbongshi Students Union (AKRSU) and other organizations have called for Assam Bandh with effect from November 19, 2018 in protest against unilateral declaration of Union Territorial Council for BTAD."

the statement added, "In this regard, Interlocutor of peace talks, AB Mathur was contacted by Pallab Bhattacharyya, Director General Civil Defence & Commandant General Home Guards and I/C Special Branch and it was clearly expressed by him that no such arrangements have been made as pointed out in some sections of the newspapers.”:

The statement added, “This is clarified to all concerned with a request to withdraw the Bandh called by them.”

Speaking to InsideNE, AKRSU general secretary Gokul Barman said, “The decision of UTC has been made without taking any consent of the other communities living in the BTAD. The whole issue seems to be a political conspiracy by the BJP as they have a plan to pass the Citizenship (Amendent) Bill, 2016.”

He added that the government made the decision to form the UTC in a very short time but they never had any discussions with the organisations which were demanding Kamatapur. “If one looks at surveys dated back to the 1983, they will find that Koch Rajbongshis are more deprived in BTAD then the Bodos. The Koch-Rajbongshis did not even get the ST status but the much upgraded Bodos were given”, he added.

Barman said that the BTAD was for actually imposed on the people living in those area. People opposed the formation of the BTAD.

He further added, “We can clearly see that the non-Bodos are not safe in the BTAD. They even tried to take the land rights of the non-Bodos living in BTAD but after the protest by AKRSU, the attempt somewhat faded. If the UTC is formed then all the communities except the Bodos will be completely deprived of land rights.”