The demand for separate State continued to rage in Assam for the fifth continuous day on Sunday with the agitators attempting to set on fire two Government offices and damaging properties belonging to politicians in the district.
The district administration on Sunday relaxed the indefinite curfew for four hours — from 8 am but it was re-imposed again after 12 noon.
Karbi Anglong, one of the two beautiful hill districts of Assam had been on a boil since Wednesday last after agitators belonging to several organisations stepped up violence demanding creation of a separate State in lines with the Telengana.
A delegation of the Karbi Anglong and neighbouring Dima Hasao district autonomous councils will leave for New Delhi on Monday to appraise the UPA Government at the Centre about the situation and also to appraise them about the aspirations of the people of the two backward districts.
“We are going to meet the Central Government leaders about present crisis. People are expecting a separate State. However, as a party we cannot demand a separate State here. We are going to demand implementation of Article 244 (A) of the Constitution in Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao, which will pave way for creation of State-within-State structure thereby giving more autonomy to the councils,” said Devajit Thousan, chief executive member of the Dima Hasao autonomous council.
“The present autonomy is not sufficient to fulfil the aspirations of the people in the two backward districts. I believe implementation of Article 244 (A) will provide us more autonomy, particularly in terms of financial matters and this will help fulfill the aspirations of the people,” Thousan said.
The Army had flagged marched in the district to calm the situation and that seven companies of additional forces had already been deployed to assist the State Police.
Meanwhile, the Bodo National Conference (BNC)-a conglomeration of several Bodo organisations on Sunday held a mass rally in Kokrajhar to discuss the issue of Statehood to the Bodos. The BNC adopted
the Statehood demand as one of its main agenda.
All the Bodo MlAa and MPs and the members of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) — that runs the administration in four district of the Bodoland Territorial Areas Districts (BTAD) will go to New Delhi soon (Before August 15) and hold a dharna at Jantar Mantar demanding a separate State for the Bodos.