HT Correspondent
SIVASAGAR, March 24: The All Tai Ahom Students Union and a number of other organisations have protested the employment of non-Assamese people in Rangghar and Talatalghar, symbols of Assamese pride, by the Archaeological Survey of India. The student organisation has given stern warnings to the department not to engage Hindi speakers in the two important centrally protected monuments in Sivasagar, as it leads to frequent exchanges of abuses while a vast number of Assamese people visit these monuments daily. ATASU has set a seven-day time period for the ASI to look into the matter and has threatened a bigger strike against the policy.
Partha Pratim Gogoi, secretary of ATASU, Sivasagar, said that the state governments have been assuring the people that measures are afoot to increase tourist inflow to the iconic city, but at the same time, only Hindi speakers are being appointed in the offices attached to the regional ASI office.
The secretary also said that they have no objection to Hindi speakers as such, but that should not impede opportunities for Assamese youth to secure employment at monuments in their own region.
