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Extremism has halted development: Assam CM

Developmental activities in Assam have almost come to a grinding halt in the past two years following extremism and ethnic clashes, Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said.

In a chat with the media yesterday, Mahanta said though the state government had made efforts to solve the insurgency problem by bringing different militant groups to the negotiation table, satisfactory progress could not be achieved.

Different militant groups operating in various states in the region had taken a common stand that if at all they sat in the negotiation table, they would do so together, he said.

The chief minister had expressed concern over ethnic clashes in Kokrajhar district following which millions of people had been rendered homeless and had taken shelter in relief camps. The state government was facing constraints to rehabilitate them, he said.

Regarding the Bodoland issue, Mahanta said that the government was ready to resolve the issue through negotiations, and added there was no question of further division of Assam by creating Bodoland.

The chief minister also said Union Home Minister Lal Kishinchand Advani had informed him in a letter that the Centre was not at all in favour of any further division of Assam.

He said, ''I have earlier written a letter to Mr Advani to clear once and for all the Centre's view on the demand for a separate state of Bodoland. There is a general impression that the Centre is keen on granting a separate Bodo state whereas the state government is against it.'' Advani's response had confirmed that the Centre was also opposed to the creation of a separate state in Assam, he added.

The Bodo problem had been complicated because of the previous Congress government's hasty creation of the Bodoland Autonomous Council without demarcating the boundaries.

UNI

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