GUWAHATI, June 13 – The State government will soon create a special department to look after the welfare of the tea tribes in Assam. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has agreed to the demand, raised by the Assam Tea Tribes Students’ Association (ATTSA), for an exclusive department. “There will be a separate department for tea tribes,” Gogoi told reporters today at Rajiv Bhawan while referring to his meeting with ATTSA leaders yesterday. “We have agreed to it,” he said. The tea students have genuine grievances especially in the engineering and medical sectors, he said while emphasising his government’s commitment to “remove genuine grievances.”
Minister of State for Planning and Development (P&D) Himanta Biswa Sarma said later that the Department of Tea Welfare will be set up and functioning by July-end. He said that in their meeting with the Chief Minister yesterday, ATTSA representatives had raised issues concerning revenue, health and education. The government has arranged a series of meetings between ATTSA and the ministers of the concerned departments on June 19 and 20, he said.
The Department of Tea Welfare will be the comprehensive agency that will integrate all development and welfare initiatives that are now being looked after by different departments in bits and pieces. All these functions will now be integrated into a single department, he explained. Asked whether the move is aimed at wooing the tea community that is shifting its traditional support away from the Congress, Sarma said that there is a definite feeling among the tea community that a separate department would be highly beneficial for their welfare. “There is nothing political here,” he asserted.
Meanwhile, the State Government has already completed much of the groundwork for the full operationalisation of the BTC. Sarma said that three pairs of DCs and SPs have already joined their posts in the three new districts. The IGP for BTC, along with the obligatory DSPs and ASPs have also been posted. The State Government has decided to make funds available to the BTC through a budgetary provision at one go. There will be two tranches of the fund, said Sarma. While the first tranche will be given automatically, the second tranche will be given after utilisation certificates are received, he informed.
Till now, funds for the Bodoland area came from 22 departments. Now the source will be only one, the P&D Minister stated. Asked about the quantum of funds that would be available, Sarma said that the figure is being worked out by a committee chaired by Additional Chief Secretary, P&D, Babu Rajeev. The funding will be based on the population structure, he said. Referring to his latest war of words with AGP MPs Sarbananda Sonowal and Arun Sarma, the Minister said he was surprised to note that Sonowal was “virtually threatening” him. “I have been successful in having them admit that they have only laid certain statements in Parliament,” he said. He maintained his stand that the two MPs have misled the people by pretending “as if they have taken a patent on raising issues on Assam.”
Indirectly supporting his Minister earlier, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told reporters that though he did not want to enter the debate, the statements laid by the two AGP MPs under Rule 377 of Parliamentary procedures do not require the government to respond to them. “I don’t say that 377 has no meaning but a Minister may or may not reply to the issues raised. To get a real answer there should be starred questions,” he said while mentioning his own experience in the Lok Sabha.