Exercising his constitutional authority, Assam governor Janaki Ballav Patnaik has started proactive intervention into the functioning of autonomous district councils and directed the leaders of NC Hills Autonomous Council to work for the setting up of panchayati raj system at the panchayat and block level.
Before this, the Assam governor had issued direction to the Bodoland Territorial Administrative District also to apprise him about the developmental activities and its execution on the ground.
A 15-member delegation of the NC Hills Council, which was in thick for massive misappropriation of fund, met the governor at Raj Bhavan here on Saturday. The delegation was lead by chief executive member Debojit Thaosen, with 10 executive members and other officials.
Mr Patnaik told the delegation that all the communities must be represented at the panchayats. He said that the panchayats have to be delimited under the options of the State Election Commission.
He, however, assured the delegates to look into the communication problem of remote Dima Hasao district while assuring to explore the possibility of connecting the Sixth Schedule areas of autonomous district with helicopter services as suggested by delegates. On Thursday, he intervened into the affairs of trouble-torn Bodoland Territorial while suggesting that violence affected people in BTC should be rehabilitated on the basis of voters list and not on the basis of land ownership. Mr Patnaik argued, “If you make land the only basis for rehabilitation then there are lakhs of landless people in this country. Even in Guwahati also there are large numbers of landless people who cannot produce any paper about the ownership of their land and there are people also who have not got any land at all.” Over 100 people died and five lakh people were displaced during violence between Bodos and Bengali-speaking Muslims that rocked Kokrajhar, Chirang and Dhubri.
districts since July. this year.
Mr Patnaik also made it clear that he was endowed with special powers under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution for the governance of such areas. He directed representatives of the autonomous councils to apprise him of all the developments and other issues regularly.