UGACMC threatens stir over Assam Garo council demand

GUWAHATI:

The United Garo Autonomous Council Movement Committee (UGACMC), an umbrella organisation of several Garo groups in Assam, has threatened to intensify its agitation, demanding a separate council for the community on Sunday.

“A mass and effective agitation against the Assam government will be staged within this month if no pragmatic steps are taken to fulfil our long-pending demand for the creation of a separate autonomous council for Garos in the state,” UGACMC Chairman, Alex K Sangma said in a statement.

The Garos must have a separate autonomous council of their own in Assam within the framework of the Indian Constitution for shaping their destiny regarding political, socio-cultural ethnicity and education, Sangma added.

He observed that the creation of four autonomous councils last year by the Assam government only vindicated the evidence of discrimination against the Garos of Assam.

“The Garos of Assam have been deprived of their rights because of the step-motherly attitude of the state government,” he alleged.

He further pointed out that the UGACMC had under a suggestion of the Assam government even prepared a comprehensive population survey and submitted the same to the government.

“But there has been no response to our long-pending demand for an autonomous council,” he rued.

(Edited by Laxmi Chyrmang)