BTC chief Pramod Boro said the Council administration has decided to rehabilitate thousands of Santhals, Bodos and people from the Muslim community, who were displaced from their villages during ethnic riots and terrorism since 1996.

Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) chief Boro on Sunday said, “The BTC has decided to take back the displaced Bodos, Santhals and other people to their respective villages in the next three months.”

“Some of the displaced people have taken shelter in the relief camps for the last 25 years while others were relocated somewhere else,” said Boro, who is also the president of United Peoples’ Party Liberal.

According to a media report more than 2.5 lakh people were displaced since 1996 due to ethnic conflicts and insurgency-related violence in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR).

He said that the Bodoland areas, covering four districts of Chirang, Baksa, Udalguri and Kokrajhar, have witnessed many ethnic riots and insurgency-related violence with major incidents in 1996, 2008, 1998, and 2012.

Boro said the BTC is keen to rehabilitate the violence-hit people in their original villages and create a harmonious and peaceful situation in the Bodoland Territorial Region.

The BTC chief announced that houses would be constructed for the returnees under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and other area development plans.

He said the riot and militancy-hit people have not returned to their areas in the last several years due to security issues.

“The BTC has decided to set up police posts in their villages,” Boro announced.