Assam CM vows to wipe out insurgency

Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on the New Year's Day vowed to wipe out insurgency from the state for the sake of accelerating the development process.

He said the task of wiping out insurgency from the state was yet to be completed though majority of insurgent outfits had come forward for holding dialogue with the government by abjuring the path of violence.

He said it was a very good sign that many insurgent groups had come forward for talks after realising that violence would lead to no solution to their problem.

"I appeal to those insurgents who are still at large to their guns to give up violence and engage themselves in dialogue to find solution to the problem," Gogoi said.

"Insurgency has to be wiped out to facilitate rapid economic development of the state and we are continuing with are efforts to achieve this goal in near future," Gogoi said, adding the anti-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom and the Maoists elements are trying to re-group and create fresh trouble in the state.

Regarding the alarming problem of land-grabbing in Guwahati, Gogoi said that there was collusion among a section of government officials, police officials and land mafias.

He said to tackle the problem a Tribunal would be set up to fast-track the trial of land grabbing cases. "It is a very serious problem, even land of some of my relatives has been targeted by land grabbers," he said.

Gogoi announced a number of special scheme focused on benefit of the students' community in the state.

From this year onwards, the top three rank holders in High School Leaving Certificate Examination in Assam will be taken on an exposure tour to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the United States.

The government will also provide a desk-top computers to each of the students securing between 50-59.9 per cent marks in the HSLC examination while the on-going scheme to provide laptop computers to all the students securing 60 per cent and above in the HSLC examination will be continued.

Bi-cycles would be provided to students from all the Below Poverty Line families in the state while one lakh meritorious students from primary level would be provided with scholarship worth Rs 5,000 each in the form of fixed deposits.