GUWAHATI: Influential students union, Takam Mising Porin Kebang (TMPK) has set a week’s deadline for the Assam government from Tuesday to make its stand clear on the relocation of the ‘homeless’ families belonging to Dodhia village apart from the status of the rehabilitation initiated for the Laika villagers.
A delegation of the Tinsukia unit of TMPK, one of three Mising students unions leading the protest on behalf of the Laika and Dodhia Rehabilitation Committee, had submitted a memorandum to the chief minister in this regard on Monday.
“We have accepted the locations of Namphai and Paharpur areas in Tinsukia district for rehabilitation of the families from Laika but urged the government to make its stand clear on the measures initiated for them so far,” Ajay Doley, assistant secretary of the Tinsukia unit of Takam Mising Porin Kebang (TMPK), told The Shillong Times on Tuesday.
“As of now, we have temporarily withdrawn our strike (which has endured 43 days) for a week, but if the location for settlement of the Dodhia villagers is not decided within seven days, we will be compelled to resort to an intensified agitation, including an indefinite hunger strike,” Doley said.
A flood-prone area in Lakhimpur district, earlier proposed by the government, has been objected to by the protesting villagers.
It may be mentioned that the high-level committee, constituted about a month back, could not find out a “logical and permanent” solution within the January 31 deadline for relocation and rehabilitation of the 1480 families, primarily from the Mising community.
The families had been residing in the two hamlets under Dibru Saikhowa National Park in Tinsukia district for about seven decades till the area was declared a protected area last year.
They had been camping at a makeshift camp in Tinsukia for over 40 days till the temporary withdrawal of the strike on Monday.
The Assam government had reecently announced Rs one lakh to each landless family of Laika and Dodhia villages.
Of the 1480 families, 972 are residents of Dodhia and 508 are inhabitants of Laika.