From Our Correspondent
Guwahati: The Assam government has decided to set up a task force to deal with drugs, child trafficking and cyber crimes. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Saturday said that experts and civilians would be included in the task force and they will suggest measures to deal with these menace.
The task force will be formed within a month. Terming Assam police as one of the best force in the country, Gogoi also said that eight thousand more personnel would recruited to the police force soon to augment its strength already 2000 posts have been sanctioned.
The task-force was likely to have members from various security agencies like police and army, besides prominent public figures.
Speaking about modernisation of the police force, the chief minister said “We are very serious about it. We are trying to modernise all facilities, training and other amenities … We have already recruited 12,000 and we are going to recruit 8,000 more personnel.”
With the ULFA observing its annual ‘martyr’s day’ on Saturday in Assam, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that the strength of the insurgents has declined and the security forces have foiled many of their attempts.
“Today is their ‘shaheed divas’ and so they are trying their best to make their presence felt. We are resilient and the security forces have foiled many attempts, Gogoi said.
“However, some incidents have occurred and we are very serious about this,” Gogoi told reporters here referring to the grenade blasts in the state this week.
He said that they were carried out by the anti-talk faction of ULFA led by Paresh Barua. “ULFA’s strength has come down a lot. When I took charge in 2001, about 400 people were killed a year by them. It is only around 10 deaths so far this year,” Gogoi said.
Stating that the government has alerted all districts to keep a strict vigil, he accused the banned outfit of getting help from ‘more than one country’ to destabilise peace and development in the state.
Earlier this week, six persons were injured in a grenade blast at a busy market area in Bokolia town in Karbi Anglong district.
A day earlier, suspected insurgents triggered three serial grenade blasts in Lakhimpur district, injuring five persons on the high security Deputy Commissioner Court road, jail Road and Chawlkhowa areas.
The police have arrested four persons, including an ULFA cadre and three surrendered members of the outfit for the Lakhimpur incident. Another militant, who was tasked with carrying out a blast in Dibrugarh, also surrendered.
Gogoi also announced that Assam government was adopting a plan to facilitate proper education to about 15,000 children in the State who have been affected due to spells of ethnic and communal violence in the State.
On the recent series grenade explosions triggered by the anti-talks ULFA, Gogoi said the ULFA faction leader Paresh Barua was just trying to make his presence felt by carrying out subversions.
Gogoi also said that more than one countries were providing support to the ULFA and said that government was very serious in tackling the situation and all the district administrations had been instructed to intensify vigil.
Gogoi said that the government had given emphasis on development issues because security and peace can be brought only through rapid development in all spheres.
Gogoi who also holds the Home portfolio said that small anti-talks faction of various insurgent groups like National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) faction led by one Sangbijit, Karbi People’s Liberation Tiger (KPLT) etc. had extended support to the ULFA (anti- talks).
Stating that thrust was on development and security, he said “No investor will come here if there is no sense of security in the state. “We are working for huge employment generation. We are also talking to CII and FICCI for jobs by private players in the MSME sector.” ( with inputs from PTI)