TEZPUR, April 6— The Adivasi people living in the proposed Bodo Territorial Council (BTC) areas are not safe and are facing death threats said Silvius Condpan chairman Assam Planning and Development Board. Talking to mediapersons here at Tezpur circuit house, Condpan said without any tangible solution by the ruling State Congress (I) government, the lives of the Adivasi people and other non Bodos living in the BTC areas will be at stake in future.
Many of the Adivasi people living in Kokrajhar and Gossaigaon areas have left their villages and have been camping in the relief camps, the chairman said. Condpan further said that in order to save the Adivasis and non-Bodos the government must give a serious thought on the matter.
Meanwhile the Sonitpur unit of AASAA, in a meeting held at Hem Baruah hall here has threatened to launched an intensive agitation against the BTC and said that the accord was signed without taking the consent and confidence of the non-Bodos living in the areas. Even the inclusion of 19 villages under Borchala LAC in Sonitpur district and 18 villages under Mangaldoi, Dalgaon and Kalaigaon LAC in Darrang district in the BTC area out of total 93 villages demanded by the Bodo organisations have been opposed by the non Bodos.
However, Bodo leaders expressed that the non Bodos should not become apprehensive as the first tribal council in India will have reserved seats for the non-Bodos. For a long period the Bodos had been treated as second class citizens and the BTC which is to be created in accordance with the provisions of the 6th Schedule, will give the Bodo people the rights and privileges enjoyed by other communities, a Bodo leader told this correspondent here.