Efforts on to lift AFSPA in toto: Modi
GUWAHATI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said efforts were on to withdraw the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) from the remaining areas of the Northeast. Addressing a “Peace, Unity and Development Rally” in Assam’s Karbi Anglong, he said old rules were being tweaked as peace was making a steady return to the Northeast as a result of the collective efforts of the state governments and the people.
“AFSPA remained enforced in many states of the Northeast for a long time but after the return of permanent peace and also due to better administration in the past eight years, we removed it from many areas,” the PM said.
He added that incidents of violence in the Northeast had dropped by around 75%. This is why AFSPA was first removed from Tripura and then Meghalaya. AFSPA had been invoked in Assam for three decades but with the improvement in the overall security situation in the past few years, it was removed from 23 districts.
“We are trying to normalise the situation in other areas as well so that AFSPA can be removed.” Modi highlighted how the Centre’s efforts had helped solve the problem of insurgency in Assam’s Bodo areas, Karbi Anglong and in Tripura and the Bru (Reang) problem of Tripura-Mizoram. He expressed happiness that Assam and Meghalaya reached an agreement to resolve their boundary disputes. This will give impetus to the development aspirations of the region, he added.
Later in the day, he inaugurated seven cancer hospitals and laid the foundation of as many others across the state, virtually from Dibrugarh. Three more cancer hospitals are expected to be operational by the year-end. In all, 17 advanced cancer hospitals would be ready in Assam by the time it celebrates the third anniversary of the BJP-led coalition government in May 2024.
These hospitals have been/are being built with funds from Tata Trusts and the state government. Tata Trusts chairman Ratan Tata said, “Today is a... day that raises Assam to a higher level in terms of health care and treatment of cancer that has not been experienced by the other states in the country.”