Kokrajhar, Dec 07: The Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) will be formally formed today in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and Union Minister for North East C P Thakur. The BTC in the beginning will have an interim council which will act for six months and a fresh election to the council will be held within this period.

The council will have 12 members out of which eight would be former BLT cadres, two from non-Bodos and two from allied organisations like Bodoland Peoples Action Committee and all Bodos Employees Federation. The area to be governed by the BTC will be known as the Bodoland territorial area district (BTAD), consisting of four new districts -- Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baska and Udalpur.

The BTC will be the third autonomous council in the state-- the earlier two being Karbi-Anglong district autonomous council and North Cachar Hill District Autonomous Council. Unlike Karbi Anglong and NC Hill Automous Council, the BTC has been formed under sixth schedule of Indian Constitution and will be provided with more power and allocation of fund from the Centre.

Meanwhile, the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) criticised the formation of BTC.

The militant group described today's arm surrender by the BLT cadres as the day when Bodo people's aspiration was surrendered to Delhi, a report here said. The NDFB stated that it had nothing to do with the surrender and would not change its course of action in future. The new administrative set-up would ''benefit only a few, including the leaders, '' the report added.

Local MP and chairman of the reception committee for the rally on the Bodo accord S K Bwiswmuthiary said many of its second ranked leaders and younger cadres wanted to surrender and rejoin the social mainstream but could not do so because of its chairman Ranjan Daimary.

Bureau Report