Assam\\\'s Bengali region demands economic autonomy

Groups representing public aspirations of Assam’s Bengali dominated Barak valley have asked India’s central government to create an Economic Development Council (EDC) for the neglected region. The Barak Upatyaka Bahubhasik Samamnoy Samity (BUBSS) and the Barak Upatyaka Bangiya Sahitya-Sanskriti Sammelan (BUBSSS) have said in a memorandum that the demand, first raised in 2005, must be sympathetically considered by New Delhi. The EDC will consist of elected MPs, MLAs, Zilla Parishad and Municipal Committee members from the 3 districts of Barak valley – Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi. ‘We need direct Central funding of our development projects because our economy and infrastructure is in bad shape due to continuous neglect by successive Assam government,’ said BUBSSS general secretary Gautam Prasad Dutta. ‘The EDC will receive its budgets directly from the Centre. We don’t seek to break away from Assam as some in our region wants, but we want direct Central assistance to speed up our development,’ Dutta told bdnews24.com in Silchar on the sidelines of an annual book fair in the north-eastern city in India.