House panel seeks report on Transfer of tribal land

 STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: A committee of the Assam Legislative Assembly (ALA) feels that a large area of land belonging to tribal belts and blocks has been illegally transferred to non-tribal or non-protected people through fraudulent means.

The Assembly committee has sought a detailed report from the Revenue and Disaster Management (R&DM) Department and the Kamrup (M) Deputy Commissioner on how protected lands under Chapter X of the Assam Land Revenue Regulation Act, 1986, have been transferred to people belonging to an unprotected class of people in the Sonapur Revenue Circle.

The Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes of the Assam Legislative Assembly had a meeting under the chairmanship of the House committee’s Chairman, MLA Bhuban Pegu, today seeking the report from the department and the Kamrup (M) district administration. The Assembly committee received a complaint from the All Assam Tribal Sangha (AATS) that hundreds of bighas of land belonging to tribal people in Sonapur in the South Kamrup Tribal Belt were illegally transferred to people belonging to non-protected classes. The complaint also mentioned that a few ‘non-Assamese’ people purchased land fraudulently and set up several industries, including a cement company. After a thorough scrutiny of the documents related to the transfer of lands, the committee came to know that the illegal transfer of land had taken place through the forgery of documents. This prompted the Assembly committee to ask the department and the district administration to submit a detailed report regarding the illegal transfer of lands. AATS secretary general Aditya Khakhlari was also present at today’s meeting of the House committee.

Talking to The Sentinel after the meeting, Khakhlari said, “Hundreds of bighas of land belonging to tribal people in Sonapur have been fraudulently transferred to non-tribal people. Around 131 bighas of tribal land have been illegally transferred to a cement company. We have lots of such examples with us. For the interest of the tribal people and the protection of land belonging to tribal belts and blocks, we have lodged the complaint with the Assembly committee.”

It is worth mentioning that the Kamrup (M) district administration conducted an eviction drive and freed 40 bighas of land under the occupation of the cement company last year.

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