Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to the all-round development of the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) with both the centre and the state government fulfilling 90 per cent of the Bodo Accord clauses.
Speaking after doing the ‘bhoomi pujan’ (groundbreaking ceremony) for BSF’s CENWOSTO-II (Central Workshop and Stores) for Central Armed Paramilitary Force (CAPF) and launch a centre of Khadi and Village Industries here, Shah said that the Prime Minister’s commitment to bring peace and stability in the region was evident from the peace accords signed with different militant outfits of the state.
He said that seven years ago BJP had promised to drive out insurgency from the boundaries of Assam and the home ministry under the guidance of the Prime Minister have brought most militant outfits to sign peace accords with 9,000 militants having surrendered so far.
”It was from the BTR that we had promised to make the region free from insurgency, bomb blasts and gun fights and in such a short period of time, we have signed peace accords, brought former militants to the mainstream and both the central and the Assam government have fulfilled 90 per cent of the clauses of the Accord”, he said.
During the three-year period of the accord signing, ”we had promised a package of Rs 1500 crore for the development of BTR but a special package of Rs 1980 has been approved by both the central and state government while an additional package of Rs 500 crore is under consideration and it will be approved soon”, Shah said.
”We have fulfilled the promises made to the people of BTR and are committed to ensure their social, cultural, economic and political empowerment. The development of Bodo language, culture and economy is not the concern of people alone but both the governments are committed to the all-round development of Bodoland as envisaged by the Prime Minister”. he said.
Shah pointed out that for the first time since independence, a Bodo leader has become the speaker of the Assam legislative assembly and ”we are all proud of this achievement”.
Referring to the setting up of the country’s second workshop CENWEST0-II here, the Union home minister said that weapons will be both supplied from here and repaired as well.
An amount of Rs 500 crore will be invested in the project and it will cater to West Bengal, North Bengal, Guwahati, Shillong, Manipur, Cachar and Tripura frontiers and will lead to a saving of Rs 25 crore in supply and repair of weapons along with providing employment opportunities to the youth of the region.
On the launch of the centre for Khadi and Village Industries here, Shah said that goods from here will be supplied to 107 canteens of paramilitary forces initially and later to all across the country.
”The KVIC does not ensure rural development alone but is aimed to provide employment opportunities to the unemployed youths. The Prime Minister has laid immense emphasis on this sector and since he assumed office, there has been a 250 per cent increase in its production while the turnover has increased to Rs one lakh crore”, he said.
He urged the Khadi Board authorities to lay emphasis in Assam and particularly the BTR area and link each farmer to the Honey Mission for income generation along with promoting pottery, incense stick production, food processing, woodcraft, footwear, paper and furniture industries.
”If special emphasis is laid on these sectors, then the people who have been affected by long-drawn blood-shed in the region and also those who have given up arms to return to the mainstream can be included in the process of development”, Shah said.
He said that both the CENWESTO-II and the centre for Khadi products were an example of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and would provide employment opportunities to the youths.
He said the Gobar bank projects and the white (milk revolution) can be linked together to provide employment opportunities to the tribal population, including youths and women.
Citing the example of AMUL in Gujarat, the Union Minister said that 20 lakh women are involved in the project and they sell milk worth Rs 60 lakh crore annually.
The Union Home Minister, who is on a two-day visit to the state, earlier visited the Mankachar border outpost along the Indo-Bangladesh border and reviewed the prevailing security situation with senior BSF officials.
