AITSAA opposes move to shift dumping ground to Sonapur

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: The All India Tribal Students' Association, Assam, (AITSAA) has made it clear that it won't allow the State government to shift its dumping ground currently located at Boragaon on the outskirts of Guwahati to Sonapur tribal belt and block.

Talking to the media here on Monday, AITSAA adviser Arindom Prince Panging said, "We're not going to allow the shifting of the dumping pit to Sonapur that has residential areas and important installations like Kamarkuchi Gaon Panchayat, Tamulkuchi Primary School, Byrnihat Karbi area, Guwahati Goat Research Centre under AAU (Assam Agriculture University), Meghalaya Horticultural Centre at 13 Mile. The blueprint prepared for the installation of garbage extraction at the site is hazardous for life. This plot goes against human rights.

"Garbage treatment at the site will have hazardous effects on the earthquake-prone area comprising rivers, canals, water bodies, Amchang-Jorabat wildlife and the entire biodiversity. It may spread unknown diseases. The move if carried out is certain to have a poisonous effect on the water table in Guwahati."

Also present at the press meet, AITSAA general secretary Dipen Deuri said, "A move is afoot to close the six-month certificate courses on Mising and Rabha languages in Gauhati University by a section to sub-serve their own purposes. We demand the authority of the University to conduct an inquiry to this regard. An anti-tribal attitude is glaring on a whole lot of issues in the State now. There has been ethnic discrimination in the selection of associate professors of History in Cotton University."

Other demands of the Association are – immediate eviction of encroachers from tribal belts and blocks in the State, filling up of 26,000 backlog vacancies in various departments for STs of the State, making arrangement for grace mark for the candidate taking Class X compartmental examinations under the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) during the COVID-19 crisis, etc.

The Association blames it on the government for handing over lands in tribal blocks and belts to capitalists. "The Gauhati High Court did ask all deputy commissioners of the State to free tribal belts and blocks from encroachers. However, this directive is being ignored. It's a matter of concern for all the tribal people in the State. This apart, over 4 lakh hectares of lands in tribal blocks and belts in the State have been under encroachment. This was stated by none other than the then Revenue Minister Pallab Lochan Das on the floor of the State Assembly. Why does the State administration neglect the issue of land rights of tribal people even such a reality coming to the fore?" Panging said.

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