NILAMBAZAR, July 25 - Hundreds of people from various social organisations, as well as students and panchayat representatives of South Karimganj block gathered on Thursday in front of the block headquarters and shouted slogans against the shifting of the block headquarters office from Kaliganj to Nilambazar.
The activists burnt effigies of South Karimganj�s AIUDF MLA Aziz Ahmed Khan.
Activists of the South Karimganj Block Suraksha Sangram Samiti threatened that their democratic movement will continue for an indefinite period till the cancellation of the office shifting order. The agitation that began on Monday continued till the filing of this news report on Thursday.
Badarpur MLA Jamal Uddin Ahmed, BJP�s Karimganj district vice president Amaresh Roy, AIUDF central vice president Abdul Aziz, State BJP vice president Biswarup Bhattacharjee and other leaders of various organisations participated in the agitation from Monday. The activists have not allowed any official to enter the block office, due to which work has been totally paralysed.
It may be mentioned here that the Principal Secretary, Department of Panchayat and Rural Development (P&RD), Government of Assam, issued a notification recently regarding shifting of the headquarters of South Karimganj development block from Kaliganj to Nilambazar.
The South Karimganj block is the second largest in Assam, comprising 21 gaon panchayats � five in Badarpur constituency, five in North Karimganj constituency and 11 in South Karimganj constituency.
The protestors said that Kaliganj was at the heart and centre of South Karimganj block, and the office was established in 1964 on a donated plot of land measuring 33 bighas. The people alleged that the P&RD department issued the notification without any proper reason.
They submitted separate memorandums urging cancellation of the notification to the P&RD Minister, Principal Secretary and Commissioner of P&RD as well as to the Karimganj Deputy Commissioner.
In the memorandum, the protestors said that the Government of Assam created four development blocks in South Karimganj � Kayasthgram, Binodini, Bazarghat and Medol � with the reorganisation of the existing Kaliganj block vide gazette notification published on February 28, 2016. Without taking any positive step to implement the notification, the present order of shifting of the headquarters was issued. It was only due to political interest, and not for public benefit, they alleged.
