AKPP to send memo to PM over Kamtapur demand

Atul Roy

SNS Siliguri, 13 July 2014: The newly-formed All Kamtapurr People's Party (AKPP) has said it will soon send a representation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the demand for a separate state of Kamtapur.

The AKPP claimed that the Kamtapur People's Party (KPP) had been renamed as AKPP. AKPP president Atul Roy said his new party is presently seeking registration."Before the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had assured us that it would look into our demands, including a separate state. In an addendum to its election manifesto, the BJP mentioned that the long-pending demands of the Rajbansi people would be examined. We are hopeful that the Centre will sympathetically examine and consider our demands,” Mr Roy said.

“Our party’s central committee members will serve a deputation to the Prime Minister through the Jalpaiguri divisional commissioner’s office on 24 July," he added.

Like the KPP, the AKPP has demanded a Kamtapur state comprising seven north Bengal districts and some districts of lower Assam including Dhubri, Goalpara and Bongaigaon.

"This apart, the deputation will also highlight setting up of an AIIMS-like hospital in north Bengal and immediate work for the Ghoshpukur-Salsalabari road as part of a four-lane project. We will also send the copies of the deputation to the Union health minister, Harsh Vardhan, and Union road transport and highways minister, Nitin Gadkari," he said.

The four-lane project was launched in 2002 during the NDA government in Delhi as part of the East-West corridor stretching from Gujarat to Assam.

Meanwhile, Mr Roy said: "We have sought registration of the AKPP, and we will be KPP until the registration is approved." The AKPP chief said his party has laid stress on strengthening its base in some parts of the Northeast in the beginning. "To give a broader shape to our age-old movement for a separate state, we want to strengthen the base in other neighbouring states. The statehood demand has also been raised in Assam, so we want to bring them under one party for the greater interest of the people," Mr Roy said.

Former Meghalaya state minister KC Boro has been selected as the spokesperson and the Assam-based Kamtapur president Uttam Kumar Roy has been selected as one of the general secretaries of the AKPP.