Assam eviction drive. (Representational purpose)
- The drive started in Nagaon district near the birth place of Srimanta Sankardev, the 15th-16th century socio-religious reformer
- ‘More than 80 per cent of the people have dismantled their houses, shops and other structures and moved out’
- AIUDF calls the move discriminatory and unjust.
The Assam government on Monday started the largest eviction drive in Nagaon district near the birth place of Srimanta Sankardev, the 15th-16th century saint-scholar and socio-religious reformer, amid tight security. The drive began with the deployment of over 600 security personnel.
“The eviction drive started around 6am on Monday and is continuing well without any opposition or violence from residents. Considering the area that needs to be evicted, the entire operation could take three days to complete,” said a senior district police officer in Nagaon district about 125km east of Guwahati.
“We had several rounds of talks with residents who understood that they were occupying government land and agreed to clear their settlements themselves. Till Monday morning, most of them have taken down their illegal structures from the area and shifted elsewhere on their own,” the police officer added.
“After Santijan Bazaar we will clear land in Haidubi area and depending on the time taken there, we will take a decision on carrying out the drive in the remaining two villages”, Superintendent of Police, Leena Doley said and claimed that the district administration had served notices to over 1,000 families in October to clear the land.
More than 80 per cent of the people have dismantled their houses, shops and other structures and moved out, the SP said.
In its interim report, the Commission for Review & Assessment of Problems of Sattra Lands in Assam (CRAPSLA) said that out of the 33,265 bighas of land under possession of ‘satras’, 7,504 bighas of land is under encroachment, reported Hindustan Times. The highest area under encroachment was found in the Barpeta district where 5,545 bighas of land were found encroached by illegal settlers.
Notably, clearing of sattra land is the Hindutva party’s major poll issue in the last assembly election.
The Assam government the state assembly in September stated that a total of 4,449 families have been evicted for allegedly encroaching on government land since May, 2021.
The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), a major political force in Assam, condemned the move with the party’s general secretary Aminul Islam calling it discriminatory and unjust.
It is worth mentioning that it is the second major large-scale eviction drive with the first in Dhalpur area of Darrang district which led to police firing against locals. The police action had triggered huge outrage after a video showed a photographer jumped repeatedly on the dead body of a Muslim man. At least Muslims, including a minor, had died and over 20 injured.
At least, 2,153 families were evicted in the Darrang district followed by 805 families in the Lumding reserve forest in the Hojai district and 404 from government land in the Dhubri district.
-INDIA NEWS STREAM