All Bodo Students' Union demands action over eviction drive

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The All Bodo Students' Union (ABSU) and its Guwahati district committee on Thursday submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma through the Deputy Commissioner of Kamrup (M), demanding justice for 45 Bodo families who were evicted from Nalapara (Datalpara) at Garchuk in the city.

The ABSU alleged in the memorandum that under the leadership of the forest beat officer, Fatasil, 45 Bodo families under Nalpara, Gorchuk have been forcibly evicted without prior notice on the excuse that they are illegally occupying the land. Even their homes have been vandalized, the ABSU said.

According to the memorandum, the families have been living in Nalapara for a long time. The possessed land was donated by an NGO named 'Regional Centre for Human Resource Development and Social Welfare Organization'. However, the Forest Department vandalized their houses, damaging their properties and warned them to evacuate the place on January 31 last.

The ABSU alleged that while there are more new houses of different illegal migrants in the area, these have not been evicted.

Terming it as "injustice to sons of the soil and indigenous tribal people," the ABSU pointed out that the Chief Minister has given an assurance that tribal people would not be evicted during the tenure of the incumbent Government.

The ABSU further claimed to have come to know that that the eviction was not based on any Government order. Instead, it was the act of the beat officer concerned, who has allegedly taken money from illegal migrants.

The demands made by the ABSU in connection with the incident include: A high-level enquiry into the incident; permanent rehabilitation to the 45 evicted families at the same place; provision of land pattas to the victimized families under Government policy or the FRA Act, 2006; and provision of compensation and relief materials to the affected families.

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