Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced on Thursday that 60 more villages in the state will get included in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR).
In his Republic Day speech in Guwahati, the Sarma said that 43 of these will be revenue villages and the rest 13 forest villages from Dhekiajuli, Sootea, Biswanath, Behali and Gohpur.
“As part of promises made in the Bodo peace deal signed in January 2020, our government has decided to include villages which have at least 80% Bodo population in the BTR,” he said.
The Bodo peace deal signed in Jan, 2020 with all four factions of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), which was the third such deal signed by Centre with rebel Bodo outfits, had stated that villages contiguous to BTR and “having majority tribal population” would get included in the council.
“Thank you CM Sarma for your gifts to BTR in the form of implementation of the clauses of the BTR peace accord on this Republic Day,” Pramod Bodo, chief executive member of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), tweeted.
Sarma also announced an ex-gratia of ₹5 lakh each to families of 2,001 martyrs of the Bodoland agitation. He added that henceforth, March 31 will be marked as Students Day in Assam in memory of Upendranath Brahma, popularly called Father of Bodos.
