195 doubtful citizens lodged in 6 transit camps, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma informs house

GUWAHATI: There are 195 doubtful citizens lodged in transit camps attached with jails in six districts of the state, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma informed the assembly on Tuesday in a written reply.
According to Sarma’s reply, 779 people have been released on bail from the transit camps following orders of the Supreme Court. He added that of them, 778 are marking their presence by visiting local police stations every week while one is absconding.
The Supreme Court in 2019 had ordered conditional release of detainees who had competed three years in detention on furnishing two personal bonds worth Rs 1 lakh each and that they would have to present themselves at the local police station every week. In 2020, the apex court reduced the bond value from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5,000 and the minimum period of detention from three years to two years.
Assam at present has six transit camps, which were created by making a part of the existing jails at Goalpara, Kokrajhar, Jorhat, Silchar, Dibrugarh and Tezpur districts.
Army firing range
CM Himanta Biswa Sarma informed the house that the Army firing range at Tamulpur is being demarcated to shift civilians to safer areas amid incidents of frequent injury or death and damage to property due to test firings.
“We are aware that there are people residing inside the notified firing range area. As a result of the test firings, people and property get affected at times,” the CM said. He added that the main problem was lack of clear boundary demarcation of the firing range and the Tamulpur deputy commissioner has already written to authorities about the issue.
Once the demarcation is completed, civilians inside the range will be shifted out, Sarma said and added that the state government would look into whether any monetary compensation or assistance can be provided to families whose kin have been killed in such incidents.
Congress walkout
Opposition Congress on Tuesday staged a walkout in the assembly over reduction of time allotted for supplementary queries during Question Hour and for lowering the number of session days.
Speaker Biswajit Daimary announced that five minutes would be allotted for supplementary queries and replies against each question as per a decision at a business advisory committee (BAC) meeting on Monday, which caused the opposition to protest.
Previously, the number of supplementary questions was confined to allowing two MLAs besides the main questioner, but no time limit was fixed.
Border talks
Opposition Congress cautioned the state government not to “rush” in resolving inter-state border disputes with its neighbours. The issue was raised in assembly on Tuesday by leader of opposition Debabrata Saikia through a private member's resolution.
The Congress said that Assam and Meghalaya governments were moving towards solving their inter-state border dispute through bilateral talks and if similar approach of resolving border differences is adopted with other neighbouring states too, Assam will be the loser.
Saikia said previous attempts during the Congress regime to resolve the differences were not successful as one state or the other refused to abide by the recommendations of various committees formed from time to time to find mutually acceptable solutions.
“If the Assam government leaves portions of our territory for the sake of hasty resolution of border disputes and tries to act as the big brother, our state will stand to lose. The government should not rush for reaching any decision, rather it can take more time for amiable solutions,” Saikia added.