The group of ministers constituted to rehabilitate refugees displaced in the recent violence and unrest here on Friday reviewed the progress and said that resettlement of Bengali-speaking Muslims, who have their land ownership in Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) has started.
Expressing satisfaction over the response of the BTC leadership, Assam revenue minister Prithwi Manjhi who heads the GoM told reporters, “We will rehabilitate the displaced people in two phases. In the first leg, only those who possess land ownership documents in the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) will be resettled.”
In this regard, a meeting between the GoM and BTC leaders was held on Wednesday which decided to allow uprooted Bengali-speaking Muslims to resettle in Bodoland Terriorial Council (BTC)-administered areas but only after verifying their land ownership documents.
There are 211,194 Bengali-speaking Muslims in various relief camps. The number of displaced Bodos is just about 24,000.
Mr Manjhi also informed, “The GoM and the BTC leadership will meet again on September 6 to decide the next course of action on the rehabilitation of those who do not have land ownership documents in the BTAD but may have been occupying government lands there.”
Meanwhile, the Bodoland People’s Front, which runs the BTC, clarified that it was not against genuine Indian Muslim citizens living in the BTC. However, the party asserted that it will not allow even a single illegal migrant to re-enter the area.
The All-Bodo Students’ Union, which met Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, has also advocated rehabilitation of genuine Indian citizen. ABSU president Pramod Boro, who met Mr Shinde in New Delhi said that their stress was on restoring peace in the BTC area.