GUWAHATI, March 11 — The Minister in charge of Assam Accord implementation, Sri Pankaj Bora, today informed the State Assembly that the Government has so far spent an amount of Rs 12,89,28,385 on the tribunals set up under the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act but only 1501 foreigners have been deported from the State under the provisions of the Act. Replying to a question by Sri Zoii Nath Sarma (AGP), the Minister said that as on January 1 this year, the IMDT tribunals disposed of 20,297 cases.
In reply to another question by Sri Sarma, the Minister said that so far 149.298 kilometres of border fencing and 161.311 km of border roads have been completed. He said that 110 bridges along the border roads have also been constructed. He disclosed that construction of 69.696 km of border roads and 73.728 km of border fencing is yet to be completed. The Centre released an amount of Rs 128.62 crore for construction of border roads and fencing upto February 28 this year, while an amount of Rs 126.94 crore has so far been spent on the same.
While replying to a question by Sri Sarbananda Sonowal (AGP), Sri Bora said that the Government is committee to implement all the clauses of the Assam Accord. He said that the Government has no plan to prepared lists of people who came to Assam before and after March 25, 1971. He also informed the House that the issue of giving constitutional sateguard to the indigenous people of Assam under the provisions of clause VI of the Accord is under consideration of the Central Government. In reply to a question by Sri Pabindra Deka (PLP), Sri Bora informed the House that 668 Bangladeshi nationals were deported from the State during the period from May 2001 to January this year. He said that the State Government has submitted a proposal to the Centre for creating a reserve police battalion to protect the riverine international border.
Education : The education Minister Pankaj Bora today said that the Government has constituted Education Block Level Vigilance and Monitoring Committee for effective and successful implementation of the Sarba Siksha Abhijan, in reply to a question by Sri Rajendra Prasad Singh (Cong), the Minister said that the local MLAs will be the chairman of the committees. However, cutting across party lines, legislators alleged that no step was taken to hold meetings of the committee and the legislators are ignored by the officials responsible for implementation of the Sarva Siksha Abhijan. But Sri Bora assured the members that necessary instruction would be issued to hold meetings of the committees.
Forest : The Minister of State for Forest, Sri Pradyut Bordoloi, today informed the State Assembly that during the period from June 2001 to February 2003, the State Government received Rs 223.79 lakh from the Centre for protection of forest, Rs 163.29 lakh for increasing forest cover, Rs 609.11 lakh for wildlife protection, and Rs 99.62 lakh for forest planning. He was replying to a question by Sri Jogadish Bhuyan (AGP).
Bandh culture : AGP legislator, Sri Dilip Kumar Saikia, today expressed serious concern over the bandh culture and called upon all organisations to desist from bandh culture. Raising the issue in the State Assembly during Zero Hour, he referred to the report prepared by the Federation of Industries and Commerce of North Eastern Region (FINER) on the loss to the economy of the State during bandhs, he said that the House should appeal to all organisations and political parties not to call for bandh.
The Minister of State for Home, Rockybul Hussain, admitted that bandh culture has seriously affected development of Assam. He said that all sections of people, political parties and non-political organisations should resist bandh culture. He also said that to improve work culture, the Government has reduced the number of holidays.