Govt to form new panel for preparing roadmap to implement Assam Accord

The Assam government on Tuesday announced that it will form a committee comprising ministers and members of the AASU for preparing a roadmap within three months to implement the Assam Accord.

The Assam government on Tuesday announced that it will form a committee comprising ministers and members of the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) for preparing a roadmap within three months to implement the Assam Accord.

A six-year agitation demanding identification and deportation of illegal immigrants was launched by the AASU in 1979. It had culminated with the signing of the Assam Accord on August 15, 1985, in the presence of the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

After a meeting between the AASU and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma along with senior ministers of the state government, Implementation of Assam Accord Minister Atul Bora said both sides decided to form a committee to implement the pact.

"The meeting took place in a very cordial atmosphere. It was decided that a committee will be formed to prepare a roadmap. The CM will give names of our ministers and the AASU will give their names," Bora told reporters here.

To take forward the discussion and finalise formation of the panel, both sides will meet again on Wednesday in an informal manner.

AASU Chief Adviser Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya said the committee will have three state ministers and five members of the student body.

"This committee will consider all the clauses of the Assam Accord and how those can be implemented. It will prepare a roadmap within the next three months," he added.

The AASU and the people of the state want a permanent solution to the problem of indigenous people, and the meeting discussed that in a cordial manner, Bhattacharya said.

The Assam Accord says, among other things, that names of all foreigners coming to Assam on or after March 25, 1971 would be detected and deleted from electoral rolls and steps would be taken to deport them.