New Delhi, January 31, 2010
The team, headed by Home Secretary Gopal K Pillai, will visit Kokrajhar and hold a meeting with top officials of Assam government, paramilitary forces and others and review the steps taken to stop violence in Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) areas.
Sources said violence in BTC areas has increased abruptly -- 74 per cent -- in 2009 compared to the previous year, primarily due to the fratricidal clashes among different Bodo groups.
In 2008, 110 people were killed in Assam due to insurgency-related violence but in 2009, 194 people -- mostly in BTC area -- lost their lives due to different violence.
"It is a serious situation in Bodo-dominated areas.
Violence has to be put to an end urgently," an official said.
The Centre is particularly worried over the fact that despite a large number of militants belonging to NDFB and almost all members of erstwhile Bodo Liberation Tigers surrendering their arms, violence continued unabated there.
