Assam needs more foreigners' tribunals, Gogoi tells Manmohan

Guwahati, May 9:

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to increase the number of foreigners' tribunals in the state from the existing 36 to 100. Gogoi met the prime minister at the latter's residence in New Delhi on Wednesday and appealed to increase the number of tribunals as the existing ones are inadequate to dispose of the large number of pending cases, leading to harassment of genuine citizens in the name of detection of foreigners.

"The sensitive nature of work of the foreigners' tribunals require speedy and smooth disposal of cases. There is an urgent need to increase the number of foreigners' tribunals from the present 36 to at least 100," Gogoi told the prime minister. The state government had sent a proposal in this regard to the Ministry of Home Affairs in September last year.

Gogoi also discussed the Lower Subansiri Hydro Electric Power Project with the prime minister and said that the state government was awaiting the report of the Dam Design Review Panel constituted by the Planning Commission and the stand of the Ministry of Power with regard to the recommendations of the Thatte Committee and those of the Group of Ministers.

The chief minister also apprised the prime minister that the state government has been pursuing with the Ministry of Power and the Ministry of Coal to provide special coal linkages to Chandrapur thermal power station and the proposed 500 MW thermal power project at Margherita in Upper Assam.

The Assam government had sought a long term linkage of 0.2 million metric tonnes of coal for the 60 MW Chandrapur thermal power station and one million metric tonne for the thermal power plant at Margherita. Gogoi calls for the prime minister's intervention for allocation of power from projects set up with India's help in Bhutan.

IANS