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Tripartite Bodo pact signed

By KALYAN BAROOAH

NEW DELHI, Jan 27 - Marking an end to 34 years of Bodo militancy, the Centre, Assam government and at least four factions of the NDFB signed an agreement on Monday in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and State minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

As per the tripartite MoS (memorandum of settlement), the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) has been rechristened as Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), while the territorial integrity of Assam will not be tinkered with, and the size of the council will be increased to 60 seats from 40 seats. �All possibility of division of Assam has been neutralised today,� asserted the Union Home Minister.

A commission will be appointed by the Assam government to look into various aspects, including inclusion and exclusion of Bodo and non-Bodo villages. The accord provides for addition of contiguous Bodo villages where tribal people are in majority in the proposed BTR, while non-Bodo majority villages will be excluded from the BTR.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have been invited by the Chief Minister to participate in a function on February 8 at Kokrajhar, announced State minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

The accord-signing function was also attended by BTC chief Hagrama Mohilary.

The accord was signed by leaders of the four factions, besides civil society groups like All Bodo Students� Union (ABSU). The signatories included ABSU president and general secretary Pramod Boro and Lawrence Islary respectively, besides leaders of various factions of the NDFB, including Ranjan Daimary, Gobinda Basumatary, B Saoraigwra, Dhirendra Boro and Mihineswar Basumatary.

Sonowal and Sarma were witnesses, while Assam Chief Secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna and MHA Joint Secretary (NE) Satyendra Garg were the signatories from the government side.

Addressing the accord-signing ceremony held at the North Block, the Union Home Minister said the Bodoland agitation turned violent in 1987 and became a major worry for the government. �The violence has so far claimed 2,823 lives of people. It also saw 239 security personnel and 944 Bodo militants killed. In all, about 4,000 lives were lost during the Bodo movement,� Shah said.

The MoS signed today is an extension of the accord signed in 2003, Shah said, adding that over 600 militant leaders have surrendered with their weapons. �With the agreement signed today, Assam will stand united and an undivided state,� he said.

So far 1,550 militants with 130 numbers of weapons have joined the mainstream. They will formally surrender on January 30, he said.

Assuring that all promises made by the government will be fulfilled, he announced that both the Centre and State government will provide a Rs 1,500-crore package to the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC). The government will safeguard the language and culture of the Bodo people, while their rights over land will be reserved.

Further, powers of the BTC will be enhanced and all development works will be completed within specific time frame, he said.

A monitoring committee will be appointed under the supervision of the Government of India. Rehabilitation of NDFB militants will be considered sympathetically. �The Government of India and the Assam government are committed to rehabilitation of the NDFB militants,� Shah said.

Steps will also be taken to increase the legislative, executive, administrative and financial powers of the BTC. A cultural centre will be set up in Kokrajhar in the name of Upendra Nath Brahma.

The government has agreed to create a post of Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of police for the BTR. Further, the families of those killed in the Bodo agitation will be given Rs 5 lakh each, the Union Home Minister announced.

Shah sidestepped a question whether non-domiciles will not be given voting rights, but in reply to another query about the legal status of those with criminal cases, he said the government has an established procedure and all cases will be looked into sympathetically.

�There is no militancy and no militant from today onward,� Shah said, adding that a committee will look into whether the area of BTR could be increased.

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