Taking a giant stride towards its avowed mission to protect Jati, Mati & Bheti, and provide due rights to the indigenous people, the Government of Assam has managed to free 160 square Km of land from encroachers in the past four years.
Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, mentioning about the developments, said that these encroachers were mostly people who owned land in their native districts, and yet moved to other districts to settle illegally in different parts of the State.
“During our eviction drive in North Assam’s Lakhimpur district, we observed that many of the encroachers came from Dhubri and South Salmara districts in western Assam, which is 400Km away, and occupied land,” Sarma shared in his social media handle.
He added that the State Government has cleared approximately 40,000 acres of encroached land from areas including forest lands, grazing reserves, tribal belts and blocks, and Government-owned land, “This area is larger than the city of Chandigarh, which is around 125 square Km, and approximately equal to two-thirds of South Delhi.”
Efforts have also been taken to free wildlife sanctuaries & reserve forests from the clutches of illegal settlers. Accordingly, 2112 hectare area has been evicted in Burachapori Wildlife Sanctuary, 138 ha in Paikan Reserve Forest, 2899 ha in Orang Tiger Reserve, 1410 ha in Lumbding Reserve Forest, 1750 hectare in Pabha Reserve Forest
District administrations have been tasked to strike off the affected individuals’ names from the voter list of the place from which they were evicted.
“They have their name in the (voter list of their) original village. You cannot have names in two places. Once they are evicted and the houses are gone, the DCs have to remove the names from the voter lists. Our job is to protect the Assamese constituency or the local indigenous constituency,” the Chief Minister clarified, adding, “Almost 50,000 people have been evicted so far, but their names will be there somewhere in the voters list in Assam. Their names will not be cut from the Assam voters list provided they are Indian citizens.”
Meanwhile, sharing a video in X, the CM said, “We are not just freeing up lands from encroachers but also preventing further encroachment by utilising these lands for productive purposes. In Lakhimpur, we have planted Som saplings in evicted land which will support Muga silkworm rearing & economic growth of indigenous people.”
Expressing deepest gratitude to the Chief Minister, Lakhimpur MLA Manab Deka wrote, “A bold step rooted in heritage, justice, and livelihood. Under the visionary leadership of Hon’ble Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Assam Government has once again demonstrated its unwavering commitment to protecting our identity, land, and roots. Thousands of bighas of encroached Government land in Lakhimpur have been reclaimed and transformed into Som plantations to boost Muga silk production, reviving tradition and empowering thousands of local sericulture farmers.”
