Assam Govt To Prepare Action Plan For Implementation Of Assam Accord Clause In A Month

The Union Home Ministry has set up a committer headed by Justice Biplab Kumar Sarma of Guwahati High Court which forwarded 67 recommendations. The Assam government will be able to implement 40 of them independently while the rest needs collaboration from the Centre.

Guwahati (Assam): The Assam government will prepare an action plan to implement the recommendations of a commission led by Justice Biplab Kumar Sarma to implement Clause 6 of the Assam Accord within the next month.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said the government has also decided to take the All Assam Students’ Union (Aasu) into confidence while implementing the recommendations. Sarma met with a delegation of the Aasu over the implementation of Clause 6.

“We have met the Aasu delegation today. We are going to make an action plan to implement the recommendations which will be submitted to the Aasu delegation by October 25. If the Aasu delegation agrees to the action, by and large, we plan to implement the recommendations by April next year,” Sarma said.

The Clause 6 of the Assam Accord provides for constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to protect the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people. The Ministry of Home Affairs had constituted a high-level committee for speedy implementation of Clause 6.

Sarma said out of the total 67 recommendations forwarded by the committee, 40 can be implemented by the state government alone. “There are, however, 12 recommendations which need to be implemented jointly by the state and Central governments. Apart from this, there are 15 recommendations which need constitutional amendments and can be implemented by the Central government only,” he said.

“We will request the central government to discuss with the Aasu on implementation of the 15 recommendations which lie in the jurisdiction of the Central government. We will consult with the Centre if a tripartite talk can be organized to discuss the implementation,” said Sarma.

He said the government will also make the recommendations public by hosting it on the website of the Assam Accord Implementation Department.

“The 52 recommendations to be implemented by the state government alone can be divided into three categories—land rights, linguistic rights and cultural rights. These recommendations will not be implemented in Barak Valley districts. In the areas under the Sixth Schedule, these recommendations will be implemented after discussing with the concerned authority,” he added.