DHEMAJI, Nov 30 - The Dhemaji district unit of All Assam Students� Union (AASU) has appealed to the electors to cast their votes in favour of fit and capable candidates having social responsibility.
The union claimed that it has lost trust on the political parties of Assam, and therefore the students� body urged the people to give their mandate in favour of those who thought or worked in the interest of the Assamese nationality.
Addressing a press conference, AASU vice president Chittaranjan Basumatary reiterated that people of the district are suffering from numerable problems in terms of infrastructure development, community health and education, besides recurring natural disasters like flood and erosion.
The student leader alleged that the Sarbananda Sonowal-led State Government has miserably failed to ease the sufferings of the people during his present tenure.
Speaking about the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill-2016, Basumatary lamented that the State Government was trying to enforce the Act by ignoring the greater interest and collective conscience of the indigenous Assamese communities, while it is not properly conducting works pertaining to updating of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), thereby facilitating illegal immigrants to enrol their names in the electoral rolls.
�The controversial citizenship Act will change the demography of Assam, besides adversely affecting the language and cultures of the indigenous people. Our democratic struggle against the Bill will continue until it is scrapped,� Basumatary said.
Stating that implementation of schemes such as Kanaklata Women�s Empowerment and old-age pension by the State Government are �mere eyewash� to befool the rural women, the AASU leader urged the Government to take up proper schemes for uplift of living standards by creating self-employment avenues. He also sharply criticised the Asom Gana Parishad and said that it was an opportunistic political party working against the dignity of the Assamese society.
Addressing the meet, AASU�s Dhemaji district president Dipak Sarma highlighted the pitiable state of the Education Department and claimed that more than 750 posts of primary and secondary teachers were lying vacant for years on end. As such, out of 12,031 LP schools, about 1,020 schools are crying for infrastructure development, and as many as 136 LP schools in the district were running with single teacher only.
Sarma said that his Union has prepared an 18-point charter of demands, including socio-economic, educational, cultural and industrial development in the district, besides beautification of Dhemaji town and development of tourist destinations.
The AASU�s charter of demands also includes permanent solution of the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh boundary dispute, four-lane extension of National Highway-52 passing through Dhemaji district and rectification of the ongoing 2000 MW hydroelectric project at Lower Subansiri river at Gerukamukh as per expert committee suggestion.
Among others, AASU�s district general secretary Kalyan Gogoi, adviser Bhagyavan Doley, Anjan Gogoi and central executive member Manturaj Baruah addressed the meet.
