Upper Asom bandh tomorrow

Guwahati, June 5 (UNI) A forum espousing the cause of protection of the existing number of constituencies today called a dawn-to-dusk upper Asom bandh tomorrow.

CPI national executive member and president of Upper Asom constituency Protection Committee Promode Gogoi said the proposed delimitation of constituencies will amount to 'great injustice' in the districts of Jorhat, Sivasagar and Dibrugarh.

''As the draft proposal is based on the 2001 Census, it is a matter of concern since the exact figure of foreigners and people of dubious origin settled in the state have not been determined yet,'' Mr Gogoi said, adding, ''We are not against delimitation, but we oppose the discriminatory manner in which it is being done.'' He also made a case for updating the National Register of Citizens before undertaking the delimitation exercise.

''The delimitation commission may chose to apply the model it had used in the case of states of south India where adjustments were done within the ambit of a particular district without affecting the number of constituencies,'' he added.

The committee, claiming that they have support of various political parties in their crusade, has called the 12-hour bandh in the Sivasagar, Jorhat and Dibrugarh districts tomorrow to register their protest against the delimitation draft which was published recently.

Essential services like healthcare, water and power supply have been kept out of the purview of the bandh.

UNI