Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday directed state Chief Secretary N K Das to immediately prepare an action plan for setting up a task force to contain Maoist activities in the state.
In an order issued here Gogoi directed the chief secretary to formulate the action plan along with the principal secretary, home political department.
Gogoi had announced that an Assam police task force/core group would be formed under an additional director general of police to contain Maoist activities and counterfeit currency racket in the State, official sources said.
The chief minister also directed the chief secretary to ascertain the extent of price rise by taking into account the prevailing market rates and official rates.
He instructed that corrective steps be initiated if the price rise is abnormal, which should be ascertained by taking into consideration the price of essential commodities at source.
Firm action should be taken against hoarders in the event of an artificial scarcity, he said. The chief secretary was also asked to look into the shortage of LPG cylinders and to submit a report at the earliest, the sources added.
Meanwhile, in what can be termed as a shift in opinion regarding the Maoist issue in Assam, Team Anna member Akhil Gogoi on Tuesday blamed Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi for creating space for Maoist groups to operate in the state. “Gogoi’s government through its repressive policies has taken away the space from democratic opposition. In such a circumstance armed rebels and Maoists will emerge as the opposition”, Akhil Gogoi, also leader of farmer body Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti(KMSS) told reporters on Tuesday.
KMSS, along with eight other organisations have announced a day-long agitation programme across Assam on Wednesday against the recent alleged atrocities committed by state police and CRPF on unarmed anti-dam activists in Lakhimpur district.
Steps by the government to check spiralling inflation and grant of land pattas (deeds) to indigenous people was also being demanded. Gogoi, who is an RTI activist, also demanded an enquiry into the recent week-long power crisis in Assam. “The latest power crisis was an artificial one created by the government. The purpose is to convince the people that big dams are essential for power generation. Even public sector firms like Power Grid Corporation and IOC are hand-in-glove with the state government in this,” he alleged. Gogoi said he would form a political party and contest the 2016 assembly polls in Assam. (PTI)