Assam: Encroachers hopping from site to site make eviction drive endless exercise

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: Encroachers shifting from one area to another after their eviction by the state administration in Assam has made the government's eviction drive a never-ending and fund-squandering exercise.

It is still fresh in the public memory that the state administration conducted an eviction drive at Kachutoli in the Sonapur area in September this year. However, off late, thatched houses have started bobbing up in the evicted area afresh, and the number of such houses keeps growing as time passes by. For the past two days, the district administration has been issuing warnings to the encroachers to vacate the area.

The Goria community (an indigenous Muslim community of Assam) has informed the Mikirbheta Revenue Circle office in the Morigaon district that some unidentified people have been erecting thatched houses in villages like Tokunabori, Majharbori, etc. The Goria community leaders allege that people of suspected nationalities have bought plots of land through some brokers and started erecting cottages, and the number of such cottages is growing as time passes by. The Goria people residing there are a worried lot now following the aggression from the people of suspected nationalities.

According to Revenue Department sources, such people of suspected nationalities encroach upon new areas when the administration evicts them from government lands and forest lands. The administration washes its hands off after evicting the encroachers and never follows the trail of the encroachers if they move to their original places or encroach upon vacant government lands and forest lands afresh.

According to official sources, the administration cannot confine the evicted encroachers in certain areas. Taking that advantage, the encroachers keep on looking for vacant government and forest lands to settle themselves. Official sources have confirmed information that some rackets of brokers have been aiding and abetting the encroachers to encroach upon government and forest lands.

The administration can do away with the Kachutoli-type hue and cry over eviction if the local people are conscious enough to inform the administration as and when encroachment in a given place just begins. As often as not, the local populace raises a hue and cries over encroachment when a sufficient number of encroachers already settle and get power supply and other facilities. This attitude on the part of the indigenous people indirectly helps the encroachers raise a humanitarian angle as and when the administration evicts them and dismantles their houses.

 Also Read: Assam: Residents demand action against encroachment at Dighalipukhuri (sentinelassam.com)

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