GUWAHATI, Oct 10 - The Committee set up by the Government of India for suggesting measures for implementing Clause 6 of the Assam Accord has been receiving overwhelming response from various organizations and individuals from different parts of the State after requesting the people to put forward their suggestions. The Committee is also expected to hold discussions with the members of various organizations and experts in concerned fields before finalizing its recommendations.
As per Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, the government promised to provide Constitutional protection to �Assamese people� and only in July this year, the Government of India formed a committee headed by Justice (Retd) Biplab Sarma to recommend measures for the implementation of the Clause. It may be mentioned here that though earlier a committee was formed in January this year, most of the members expressed their inability to be a part of it as the movement against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was at its peak at that time.
Sources in the Committee told The Assam Tribune that in its first meeting itself, the Committee has decided to call for suggestions from various organizations and individuals on implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord and advertisements were issued through the media with September 20 as the last date for submitting of the same. Because of the very good response from various organizations and individuals, the last date for submitting suggestions was extended to October 5 , but suggestions kept pouring in till today.
Sources said that copies of the suggestions received by the Committee are being distributed among all the members in phased manner so that they can go through it thoroughly before discussing the issues in the meetings. �The Committee will give due importance to all the suggestions received before finalizing its recommendations,� sources asserted. While submitting written suggestions, some organizations and individuals also sought meetings with the Committee members and it is expected that such requests would be accepted.
Sources further said that one of the mandates of the Committee is to hold discussions with stakeholders including social organizations, legal and constitutional experts etc and in its next meeting, the members of the Committee are expected to finalize the list of such persons with whom detailed discussions will be held in the days to come.
It may be mentioned here that the Committee was given a time limit of six months to finalize its report and it was formed by a notification on July 16. Sources said that the progress made so far has been satisfactory and the response from the people of the State was very positive. �The Committee members are hopeful of completing the assigned task within the stipulated time frame,� sources added.
