From Our Special Correspondent
GUWAHATI: A comprehensive survey on population and socio-economic status of the Garo community in Assam is nearing completion with the United Garo Autonomous Council Movement Committee (UGACMC) planning to submit the final report to the state government within this month.
The first-of-its-kind survey by the committee is expected to lend momentum to the long-pending demand for a separate autonomous council for the Garo community in the state.
“Barring some Upper and central Assam districts, work on the population survey is almost ready in Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Goalpara, Dhubri and Kamrup districts. We intend to finish all pending work in the other districts in the next few days and submit the report to the state by this month,” UGACMC general secretary, Thengsil Sangma told The Shillong Times.
The survey is examining and analysing the socio-economic status, education (including statistics on graduates, postgraduates) and infrastructure scenario in the Garo-inhabited areas of Assam.
A meeting between the committee and All Assam Garo Gaon Burah Association was held on Saturday where a resolution to complete the pending work in regard to the education survey which will cover youths from the matriculation level.
Two teams of four representatives each for conducting the survey across villages and towns in Upper and lower Assam. The ground work began from May 15 this year even as inclement weather and funds constraint did put the brakes on the progress of the survey subsequently.
NRC legal aid
The meeting between UGACMC and the Garo village headmen also resolved to provide legal help to the 2500 Garo people in the area who have been excluded from the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) released on August 31, 2019.
