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Govt accused of holding polls to councils hastily

By Staff reporter

GUWAHATI, May 15 � The All Assam Tribal Sangha (AATS) has charged the State Government for conducting the election �hastily� in the four autonomous councils of the State, which, according to it, may deprive a number of tribal villages of the benefits from the autonomous councils.

Particularly pointing out the problems affecting the Tiwa Autonomous Council, the AATS general secretary Aditya Khaklari said that around 50 revenue villages of Kamrup, Nagaon and Morigaon are yet to be included in Tiwa council.

�The government has yet not completed its homework for conducting elections, particularly in Tiwa Autonomous Council. Many Tiwa and Bodo villages in the outskirt areas of these three districts would be deprived of the autonomy and lag-behind due to underdevelopment,� Khaklari told The Assam Tribune.

The Sangha also demanded that elections should be deferred in Tiwa Autonomous Council for one week or more so that the �deprived� villages and its people can be accommodated in the existing constituencies.

�The government must ensure the inclusion of the left-out tribal villages in the polling constituencies, before conducting election in any of the autonomous councils,� added Khaklari.

�Moreover the elections are scheduled during the proper monsoons period. Considering the condition of rainfalls now in the pre-monsoons period, the fate of election campaign and the polling itself, appears to be uncertain,� he stated. The polling would be held in all the four autonomous councils on June 7.

�Along with conducting election in Sonowal, Thengal, Tiwa and Deori autonomous councils, the State government should also hold polling in the Missing and Rabha autonomous councils,� he added.

The Sangha also demanded another autonomous council for the Mech-Kachhari people to fulfill the need of development in such areas. A delegation from AATS would go to New Delhi towards the end of this month demanding the solution of various problems of tribal people of Assam.

To highlight various issues of tribal population of Assam the AATS would hold a 35th general conference in Tangla of Udalguri district from October 22 to 24, 2010, where the tribal land problems and reservation policy for the tribal people would be extensively discussed.

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