JONAI, May 22 - The United Bodo Peoples� Organisation (UPBO), a joint forum of various ethnic organisations of Bodo tribes, has asked the State Government to expedite the process of granting the �Bodo Kochari Autonomous Council�, which is pending in the State�s Assembly.
Reiterating its autonomy demand, the organisation said that nearly 10 lakh Bodo Kacharis residing outside the jurisdiction of Bodoland Territorial Area District (BTAD) are seeking autonomy for development on all fronts.
Talking to media persons at Simenchapori recently, UBPO central committee president, Mihineswar Basumatary said that the State Government has assured them of holding �tripartite talks� on the autonomy issue. There was a Cabinet decision during the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress Government for considering the autonomy demand and the process has been left half-done after new State Government came to power, he informed.
�We have been demanding that the Sarbananda Sonowal-led State Government expedite the process for granting the Bodo Kachari Autonomous Council with satellite area provision. Talks will be held among the representatives of the State Government, UPBO and the Hagrama Mohilary-led Bodoland Peoples� Front (BPF)�, said Basumatary, while adding that their autonomy movement is supported by Bodo Sahitya Sabha, Ex-BLT Welfare Association, ex-NDFB cadres and many other community organisations.
Referring to the historic �Bodo Accord� signed between the Centre and the Bodo Liberation Tiger (BLT) in 2003, Basumatary lamented that several clauses of the accord had not been implemented till today even after a gap of one decade.
Basumatary, who was one of the signatories to the accord, said the Clause-15 of the accord includes development demand of Tribal Sub-Plan areas of Assam, wherein several lakhs of Bodo Kachari people are living under dire economic constraints.
The accord also includes granting of Scheduled Tribe (Hills) status to the Bodo Kacharis of Assam�s twin hill districts of Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills (at present Dima Hasao) besides funding and an additional package of Rs 500 crore to the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC). As per family dossier prepared by UBPO, about 9.85 lakh Bodo Kacharis are living out of BTAD, spread in 20 districts of Assam including Kamrup besides Sonitpur, Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts of North Assam. The Dhemaji district has around 70,000 Bodo population. The total Bodo Kachari population in the State including BTAD is around 22 lakh, according to UBPO sources.