Batadrava Than Birthplace of Srimanta Sankardev Under Threat!

GUWAHATI: The State Government has freed around 130 bighas of land of Batadrava Than, the birthplace of Srimanta Sankardev, from encroachers, but has not been able to free the Xatra from the threat perception it has been under.

Hundreds of bighas of land surrounding the Than in Nagaon district have been encroached upon by people of doubtful nationalities who are erecting houses, undertaking cultivation and fish farming there. An unwelcoming development heavily laden with threat is that some dens for criminal activities have already sprung up in the area surrounding of the Than, posing a threat to it.

It was in 2018 that the State Government freed around 130 bighas of land of the Than from encroachers. However, the government stopped short of freeing the encroached government lands in the adjacent areas for reasons best known to it. Interestingly, there are allegations that a few indigenous people have been out to give settlement to people of doubtful nationalities on the government land. Some of them, it has been alleged, have even sold government lands to the settlers.

Talking to The Sentinel, Sri Sri Batadrava Than Managing Committee president Debananda Devgoswami said: “We’re happy that the State Government has freed 130 bighas of land of the Than from encroachers. However, still we’re under a threat perception as the government lands in the adjacent areas haven’t been freed from the encroachers. We feel hemmed in with encroachers all around. A section of brokers have either sold the government land to the encroachers or encouraged them to encroach upon the land. I don’t rule out the involvement of a section of indigenous people in such activities. We’ve informed the district administration of such a development many a time, but to no avail.”

When asked as to what kind of people are encroaching upon the government land, Devgoswami said: “It’s certain that people belonging to a particular faith have been encroaching upon the land. However, I won’t brand them as foreigners or people of doubtful nationalities.”

Giving a statistics of encroached government land in the surrounding of the Than, Devgoswami said: “150 bighas of land belonging to Batadrava Agricultural Seed Farm, 500 bighas of Khalihamari and Boguriguri Reserve, 80 bighas Haidubi Pathar, 120 bighas of Kodomoni Market and around 100 bighas of land on the Bhomoraguri area have been encroached upon in the surrounding of the Than. I, therefore, appeal to the government to free all these government lands from the encroachers immediately.”

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