NEW DELHI, Dec 17 ? Irked by repeated charges by Congress MPs about delay in despatch of additional forces, Minister of State for Home Affairs, Swami Chindmayanand held that Assam Government failed to make proper utilisation of available forces and there was delay in mobilisation of army. The repeated accusation by Congress MPs that Centre did not act on repeated request by Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi who wrote 14 letters to Deputy Prime Minister, LK Advani infuriated the Minister of State, who countered that the State Government did not even properly utilise the forces it had at its disposal. The State Government had 123 companies of para-military forces (CPMF) besides 23 battlion of army at its disposal but it did not deploy them in the trouble torn areas, an angry Minister retorted.
The Minister was making an intervention in the Rajya Sabha on a Short Duration Discussion on the recent violence in Assam and Bihar in the wake of the Railway recruitment. The Minister further charged that the Chief Minister did not even visit the trouble spots in Bongaigaon districts. ?I was the first minister to visit the area where ultras gunned down Bihari speaking people. When I asked the Chief Minister why he did not visit the area, he said he did not do so on security ground,? Swami Chinmayanand told the Congress members.
The Minister, however, reiterated that the underground outfits tried to exploit the volatile situation in the State and could take full advantage of the situation because of the civic polls. The very fact that there was no violnece in the State till ULFA?s call on November and 14 and AASU?s Assam Bandh indicates that the outfit was solely responsible for the violence. The Minister further opined that over dependence on CPMF has sent a wrong signal as people would loose faith on State police force. This was reflected in Bongaigaon where the local people said they did not trust the State police, he added. Asserting that Government of India was trying to remove the regional imbalance, he cautioned against carrying the slogan of son of soil too far. He also criticised the role played by the local media opining that it should have exercised restraint.
Meanwhile, the Railway Minister Nitish Kumar clarified the position of the railways vis-?-vis the recent recruitment. The current procedure is such that even if the Railway Minister comes from Assam then also people from other States would get jobs in N.F.Railways. The claimed having cleaned the system of recruitment revamping the entire procedure bringing in transparency in the process.
Replying to a question, he clarified that the reason why so many candidates from out of the State landed in Assam was that the selection of centres was done at random by the computer. Please bear in mind that N.F.Railway has five divisions, including two at Alipurduar and Katihar. He further added that Railway Zone was not limited to a single State as it covered multiple States.
Meanwhile, cutting across Party lines, members belonging to the North Eastern States unanimously called for 100 percent reservation of lower level jobs not only in the railways, but in all Central sector undertakings for the local demanding a review of the recruitment policy of the Railway. Paricipating in the discussion, Dr Arun Kumar Sarma charged that defective policy of the overnment was responsible for the turmoil. It is the duty of the Centre now to revise the policy of reservation of jobs, pleading that a national policy should be framed. He also mentioned that undercurrent of tension still persisted and North East Students Organisation had launched an agitation on the issue demanding a definite policy. At least 17 M.P.s participated in the discussion including Apok Jamir, Karnendu Bhattacharjee, Swaraj Kaushal, Sanjay Nirupam, S.S. Ahluwalia among others.