By IANS
New Delhi : Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta Thursday reviewed the security situation in Assam with the top state officials, especially on operations against rebel groups and the status of infrastructure projects in the state.
The meeting was attended by Assam Chief Secretary P.C. Sharma and state Director General of Police R.N. Mathur.
As a follow-up to the visit of Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar in February, the meeting took stock of the implementation of the suspension of operations arrangements with various groups, particularly the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB).
The central government has already extended the suspension of operations arrangement with the NDFB – formed in 1986 for securing a ‘sovereign Bodoland’ in the areas north of the river Brahmaputra – for a period of six months up to May 31, 2009.
It was mutually agreed to extend the arrangements after discussions at a tripartite meeting held last year.
The movement of cadres into designated camps and adherence to the agreed ground rules by the NDFB were discussed at the meeting.
Security of infrastructure projects, including the railway gauge conversion (Lumding-Badarpur) project and the National Highway Authority of India’s (NHAI) east-west corridor project in the North Cachar Hills, were discussed.
Work has been hit on the corridor across Assam for close to a month now, after the abduction of five engineers engaged by the NHAI.
Unidentified men had kidnapped the entire team, including the project manager and deputy manager and engineer besides their driver and a personal security officer, from near Haflong area last month while they were on their way to their camp.