Over 12,000 people still in BTAD relief camps

More than 12,000 people displaced in the ethnic violence in the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Districts (BTAD) areas are still living in relief camps in Kokrajhar and Chirang districts.

An official release said that as many as 12,644 displaced people are still living in 20 relief camps. Of which 4615 are in Kokrajhar district, all of whom belonging to the minority community and 395 Bodo and 7634 minority people are living in camps in Chirang district. The release said that 65persons left the relief camps in the last 24 hours.

Bodo people's committee opposes Govt's rehabilitation ‘policy’

The Coordination Committee, Bodo National Organizations (CCBNO) on Thursday burnt down the formats prepared by the state government for rehabilitation of displaced landless people in the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD).

The committee demanded that new formats be prepared for rehabilitation of these landless camp inmates who are sheltering at various relief camps after the ethnic violence riots in Kokrajhar.

The CCBNO on Thursday staged a sit-in demonstration in front of the district commissioner's office from 11am to 1pm, opposing the rehabilitation of suspected Bangladeshis who don't possess any land in Bodoland. The president of the Bodo Sahitya Sabha (BSS) and chairman of the CCBNO, Kameswar Brahma, warned that the state government would be the solely responsible for any recurrence of violence in the BTAD.

Earlier, hundreds of activists from 20 organizations under the banner of the CCBNO participated in the dharna in front of the DC's office to oppose the state government's alleged policy of rehabilitating illegal immigrants without proper scrutiny of their valid land and other documents.