EXCLUSIVE: Floating Police Station For Sonowal’s Majuli, But No Such Plan To Check Influx In Dhubri
While the Majuli project is being pushed to facilitate tourism, a similar plan mooted for western Assam’s Dhubri to check the entry of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants remains unimplemented for decades
Bitopan Deka
Guwahati: The world’s largest inhabited riverine island — Majuli in Assam — could soon have the unique distinction of figuring among the very few districts in the country with a floating police station.
While the project is being pushed for tourism purpose, one may be left wondering why a similar plan mooted for western Assam’s Dhubri to check the entry of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants remains unimplemented for decades.
Assam police’s demand for floating border outposts (BoPs) on the river Brahmaputra in Dhubri is at least four decades old. The proposal was initially forwarded by the state government to the Centre in 1979.
Two decades later, then-Assam governor Lt Gen (Retd) SK Sinha also recommended floating border outposts (BoP) his report to the President of India which was leaked to the media. Highlighting the threat from the influx of migrants to Assam’s ethnic demography, Sinha had in fact suggested a slew of measures including floating BoPs in Dhubri.
“Medium crafts for floating BOPs with adequate speed boats for the riverine sector should be made available as early as possible,” Sinha stated in the report.
The ‘riverine sector’ was a reference mainly to the border that Assam shares with Bangladesh in Dhubri. Infiltration into the state had taken place through the rivers as well as the land routes crisscrossing the porous border.
However, for unknown reasons, the Union home ministry never considered it appropriate to implement the project in Assam. Interestingly, in 2005, two BoPs were constructed for Assam but they never reached the state. Another futile attempt was made in the following year by the ministry to provide BoPs to Assam without any result.
Former Assam police chief Mukesh Sahay was also of the opinion that the onus of establishing a floating border outpost or police station along the border was on the home ministry and not on the state police.
A Feel-Good Project
The proposal for the Majuli project has already been submitted by the police to the Sarbananda Sonowal government. The idea was first discussed in a review meeting of the Majuli district police chaired by Assam director general of police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta earlier this year.
The rationale of the project is to manage tourists more efficiently who visit the island which is also a cradle of the Assam’s Vaishnavite culture. In the Assam assembly, the Majuli constituency is represented by none other than chief minister Sonowal.
“The basic concept behind the floating police station is to administer our district with greater efficiency especially during the peak tourist season,” said Majuli superintendent of police Aparna N, adding, “Kamalabari Ghat, one of the entry points to the island, will be an ideal location for anchoring the station.”
She claimed that the scheme would be the first floating police station in the country if approved by the government. However, there are media reports suggesting that a similar venture was implemented in 2002 by the West Bengal government in the Sunderbans to curb piracy and poaching.
In addition, there are many floating BoPs operated by the Border Security Force in the country which are equipped with motorboats and infrastructure akin to a police station.
Why Majuli?
Interestingly, the proposal from the police came only a few months ahead of the assembly polls in Assam due early next year. It’s worth recalling that Majuli had erupted in protests during the agitation against Citizenzhip (Amendement) Act which was passed by the Bharatiya Janata Party-ledcentral government in Parliament last year.
An official at the secretariat who did not wish to be named seemed hopeful of the project being sanctioned very soon. “There will be more schemes for Majuli,” he said and referred to the three projects on flood and erosion that the chief minister launched on November 28.
The police, however, believe that a floating police station in Majuli could give an edge in the administration of law and order in the district which is also registering an increased flow of tourists every year. The local police are already equipped with two speedboats in the island for patrolling in the river.
“With Majuli being surrounded by water on all sides in addition to other challenges such as flood and erosion, a police station on the water can be more effective in administering the law and order of the district and the confronting the problems in it,” claimed Aparna N.