Guwahati, Dec 21 : The Assam government has again urged the Centre to put pressure on Bangladesh and Myanmar to flush out militant outfits based in those countries.
Chief minister Tarun Gogoi today said it would not be possible to check militancy in the state unless Delhi put pressure on the neighbouring countries to flush out rebels.
“We have specific information about Assam’s militant groups having bases in Bangladesh, Myanmar and, to some extent, Nepal. We have requested Delhi to exert diplomatic pressure on these countries, similar to the one on Pakistan,” Gogoi told the media here today.
Gogoi recently met defence minister A.K. Antony, Union home minister P. Chidambaram and external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi in this connection.
The police in Assam will be equipped with the latest technology to fight insurgents, Gogoi said. “The home minister will arrive in Assam soon to discuss upgradation of police and the paramilitary forces deployed here.”
The insurgency problem in Assam is worse than any other state in the country, Gogoi said. “At least 14 insurgent groups are operating in Assam at present. We have hostile neighbours like Bangladesh and Myanmar, who are helping these militant groups and the terrain here makes things difficult for the security forces to carry out anti-insurgency operations. We have to upgrade our security forces to act in hostile situations.”
Constant conflicts between the ethnic tribes and the infiltrators from Bangladesh have compounded the problem, he said.
Referring to the global meltdown, the chief minister said that the state had demanded a special package from the 13th Finance Commission to deal with the situation.
“The state’s revenue earnings will be less because of the market recession, but we should carry on with the development activities and for this we have demanded a special package.”
On the recent outbreak of bird flu in seven districts of the state, Gogoi said an expert committee had been formed to deal with such a situation in the future.
“There is no vaccine available for avian influenza, but we have taken precautions so that bird flu is not transmitted to humans,” Gogoi said.
He said that the government had been taking necessary steps to help those in the poultry farming business. “We have arranged bank loans at subsidised rates for them,” Gogoi said.
Telegraph
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