Staff Reporter
Guwahati: There are 47 tribal belts and blocks in the state, and 5 lakh bighas of land belonging to these are under encroachment. The encroachers include the non-protected classes and people of doubtful origin.
The eviction drive at Kachutoli in Sonapur gave rise to an unwanted situation. A political blame game ensued. The moot question still remains as to why the local administration does not nip in the bud an attempt to encroach. People enter protected land and build temporary sheds at first. Later, they construct pucca houses and start farming the land. There is no action taken against them up to this point. Even the local people also do not pay heed. Suddenly, the administration swings into action, and the local people start to grumble and complain. An eviction drive then starts, accompanied by a hue and cry. This has been the pattern in all such cases of encroachment on protected lands.
Tribal belts and blocks were initially created to hinder migrants from former East Bengal from occupying these lands. The belts and blocks were created, but there was no protection for them. Soon the non-protected classes of people encroached on these lands. As a result, encroachments have now taken place at Nagaon, where around 2 lakh bighas of land are encroached, 98,000 bigha in Lakhimpur, 53,000 bigha in Tinsukia, 31,000 bigha in Morigaon, 51,000 bigha in Kamrup, 3,000 bighas in Dhubri, etc.
The Supreme Court had issued separate orders in 2019 and 2023, directing the state government to make the tribal belts and blocks encroachment-free. Due to this, the state government carries out eviction drives now and then.
Whenever there is an eviction drive undertaken in an area, the leaders of the community complain, but they do not explain to the people that they are committing a crime by encroaching on protected lands. They do not ask them not to occupy protected lands and evict such land if already encroached. Touts have also emerged, bringing people wholesale to new areas in protected lands to encroach on them. It has become a lucrative business.
A similar thing is happening in forest lands. Encroachers set up base permanently before the forest authorities wake up to the problem and take action against them. As a consequence, we now have thousands of bighas of forest land that is now illegally occupied. Interestingly, there is no proper demarcation of forest lands, and encroachers venture deep into such lands. Encroachers even have power, water supply connections, and other amenities. When eviction drives are launched in forest areas, the same thing happens. People raise a hue and cry about such drives.
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