AKRSU demands ST status, reconstitution of Greater Kamatapur State

A CORRESPONDENT

LAKHIMPUR: The All Koch Rajbonshi Students' Union (AKRSU) has once again demanded Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for the Koch Rajbonshi community.

In this context, the Lakhimpur district unit of the AKRSU submitted separate memoranda to the Prime Minister of India, Union Home Minister and Chief Minister of Assam as per direction of the central committee of the organization. A delegation of the Lakhimpur district unit of the AKRSU, comprising of central committee assistant secretary-cum-Lakhimpur district unit president Dipak Borah, social service secretary Deba Borah and education secretary Gyandeep Borah, submitted the memoranda through Deputy Commissioner Sumit Sattawan on Monday. ADC Manorama Morang received the memoranda on behalf of the Deputy Commissioner.

Notably, the Koch-Rajbongshi community had enjoyed the tribal status for a year from January 1996. But the status was not extended after January 1997 following an ordinance.

Through the same memoranda, the organization demanded the government to reconstitute the Greater Kamatapur state, to grant ST status to the Koch Rajbonshi community again, and to repair and reconstruct the Gohain Kamal Ali (Road) constructed by Koch King Nara Narayan. This road was constructed connecting Narayanpur of Lakhimpur district with Koch Bihar, the capital of the Koch Kingdom via Agomani of Dhubri district in 1547 under the supervision of Gohain Kamal, the step-brother of King Nara Narayan.

In the memoranda, the organization further expressed resentment over the alleged lackadaisical attitude on the part of the State Government about submitting the final report on the ST status of the Koch Rajbonshi community to the Union Government. The organization demanded the State Government submit the report at the earliest. Notably, a Group of Ministers had been tasked by the Central Government to counsel on the rights and privileges of the new STs after the introduction of the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill in Parliament.

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