Tiwa organizations demand the inclusion of left out ST villages in TAC

A CORRESPONDENT

MORIGAON: Several Tiwa organizations like All Tiwa Students' Union (ATSU), Tiwa Yuba ChatraParishad (TYCP), All Tiwa Woman Association (ATWA), All Tiwa Protection Committee (ATPC), Morigaon District Tribal Sangha (MDTS) and Tiwa Cultural Society (TCS) on Monday demand exclusion of Dimaria area of Tiwa Autonomous Council under Kamrup (metro) and the Jagiroad Development Authority under Mayong Revenue Circle from the map of ASCRDA-2017 (Assam State Capital Region Development Authority), to include left out ST villages in Tiwa Autonomous Council (TAC) and to remove the inadvertently included non-ST villages from the Tiwa Autonomous Council(TAC).

In the statement signed by the presidents and the secretaries of the Tiwa organizations, it was stated that the Tiwa organizations had been demanding exclusion of Tiwa Autonomous Council (TAC) and the tribal belt areas from the map of the ASCRDA-2017. In this regard, the State Government had published a notification on October 19, 2020 deciding to rectify the Act. But unfortunately, the State Government did not rectify the Act and published the same without excluding the Dimaria area of Tiwa Autonomous Council under Kamrup (metro) and the Jagiroad Development Authority under Mayong Revenue Circle.

The organizations asked the government that for accomplishment of whose objective it wanted to expand the ASCRDA? The organizations also alleged that the Act had been passed in order to easily handover the lands under tribal belts to capitalists. They alleged that the government was conspiring to drive out the tribal people from their lands even after having the Tribal Belt Block Act.

The first TAC was formed in 1995 but the first general election of the TAC was held in 2010. Due to hasty election, many Tiwa villages had been left out from the TAC and many non-Tiwa people were inadvertently enlisted in the voter list. Later in 2015, the second TAC election was held with the same voter list. In connection with the TAC voter list, the Tiwa organizations had repeatedly demanded correction many times but no government had taken steps for correction of the list. Till date, total 216 villages have been left out from enlisting in the TAC list.

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