Tezpur The Assam government is set to launch a major eviction drive in Sonitpur district on Saturday to remove encroachments from the 330-acre land, a senior official said.
This campaign will be run in No. 3 Chitalmari area of Barchalla Assembly Constituency, which is currently represented by BJP MLA Ganesh Kumar LimbuAlong the northern bank of the Brahmaputra River.
“We are ready to launch the eviction operation from tomorrow morning. All necessary formalities have been completed and around 1,000 security personnel have reached for the operation,” a senior Sonitpur district administration official said. PTI on condition of anonymity.
According to government records, 299 families were living in this area, but after receiving the notice about eight months ago, more than 90 percent of the families have left.
The patrolling and domination exercise in the area has been going on since August 31 after the arrival of security forces and this has influenced people to voluntarily vacate the land, the official said.
“We could not carry out the eviction drive earlier due to various reasons. Now, most of the people have agreed that this is government land and it will be used for development works,” he said.
The locals claimed that most of the residents on the land parcel had moved to the place several decades ago. Nagaon and Morigaon Districts After the massive erosion of their land on the southern bank of the Brahmaputra.
Asked about the demographic pattern of the alleged encroachers, the official said, “It is a mix of several communities. The largest number of families are Bengali-speaking Muslims, followed by Bengali Hindus and Gorkhas.”
Two-time MLA Limbu claimed that most of the families have their homes at other places as well and hence they are leaving without any protest.
“These people also had the right to vote and they have been voting in it” barchalla For years,” said Limbu, a BJP politician from the Gorkha community.
Locals, however, criticized the administration and said that the government should have taken care of their rehabilitation as they had “lost everything” in floods and erosion decades ago.
“We were born and raised here. Our children were studying here. What will happen to their education now?” a resident asked.
Special Director General of Police (Law and Order) Gyanendra Pratap Singh had visited the spot on Thursday and reviewed the security arrangements.
Talking to reporters, he had said that one IG rank officer and three SP rank officers would be present during the eviction drive.
He had also claimed that the land was being cleared as the government was planning to set up a solar power plant at that location.
This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed. Only the title has been changed.
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