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Bodos sign peace accord with Centre

By Anjali Mody

NEW DELHI FEB. 10. The Centre and the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT) have reached an agreement to settle the over a decade-old Bodoland issue. A tripartite Memorandum of Settlement (MoS), signed by the Additional Secretary (Border Management) in the Union Home Ministry, R.C.A. Jain, the Assam Chief Secretary, P.K. Dutta, and the BLT chairman, Hagrama Basumatary, envisages the creation of Bodoland as an autonomous self-governing unit within Assam. Also present at the signing of the settlement were the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, and the Assam Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi.

Under the provisions of the settlement, a 46-member autonomous Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), recognised under the sixth schedule of the Constitution, will be set up.

Briefing the media, Mr. Jain said that 40 members of the council would be elected, with 30 seats being set aside for tribals, five for non-tribals and five for other groups. Six members would be nominated by the Governor from communities not otherwise represented. The existing Bodoland Autonomous Council would be abolished. Elections to the new council would be held soon after its formation, Mr. Jain said.

The BTC, covering some 8,000 sq kilometres, would comprise some 3,082 villages and a population of some 23 lakhs. The status of an additional 95 villages would be considered by a three-member committee.

Another loose end is with regard to the status of the Bodo Kacharis. Under the settlement the Government has said that it will "sympathetically consider the demand of Bodo Kacharis" living in the jurisdiction of Karbi Anglong district for ST (Hill) status. The Centre would also make a Rs. 100-crore a year allocation for infrastructure development over the next five years.

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