In addition to clamping down Madrasas having links to Islamic terror organisations, the Assam government has increased its efforts to eliminate illegal encroachment from government property. In one such endeavour, the Assam government carried out a large eviction drive in the Sonitpur district on Saturday to clear illegal encroachments from 330 acres of govt land.
#BREAKING | Eviction drive being carried out in Assam’s Sonitpur after court orders to vacate encroached govt land; 500 families evicted
— Republic (@republic) September 3, 2022
Watch – https://t.co/0eImh6H5UT pic.twitter.com/rpI19NwQgA
According to sources, the drive is taking place along the northern bank of the Brahmaputra River in the No. 3 Chitalmari area of the Barchalla assembly constituency, which is now represented by BJP MLA Ganesh Kumar Limbu.
Eviction drive in the Chitalmari Char areas in Sonitpur district in #Assam .The district administration had served eviction notice to over 600 families belonging to the minority community eight months ago to vacate the lands measuring more than 1000 bighas @news18dotcom pic.twitter.com/O44NkiCAde
— Kamalika Sengupta (@KamalikaSengupt) September 3, 2022
About 50 excavators, heavy machinery and a large number of workers have been deployed for the drive to demolish the house in the area. Reports suggest that eviction has been carried out peacefully since most of the residents residing there illegally, had already vacated their houses and left the place with their belongings after receiving the eviction notice around 8 months ago.
According to government records, 299 families were living in the area out of which 90 per cent have already left after they were served notices. “The eviction drive has been incident-free so far. There has been no law and order situation,” the officer, who is among those overseeing the exercise, said.
The drive began around 5 am on Saturday, and because most occupants had already left, the structures are being demolished using excavators and other heavy machinery, the official added.
Another police officer stated that the area to be cleared has been divided into three sections and that demolition in one section had been completed by 9 am today.
Around 1,200 security personnel, including Assam Police and paramilitary troops, equipped with anti-riot gear, have been stationed at the site to make sure no untoward incident happens during the eviction drive.
Ahead of today’s drive, entrance, patrols, and area dominance exercises were conducted by security forces on August 31. Some residents who had not vacated after getting the notice left the area in the last two days voluntarily after that exercise. They themselves demolished their huts and took away as many belongings as possible with them.
Assam govt carries out eviction drive in Lumding, recovers 1410 hectares of encroached forest land
Notably, last year on November 8, the Assam government carried out an eviction drive in the Lumding reserve forest in the Hojai district of Assam and recovered 1410 hectares of encroached forest land.
Reportedly, the Lumding reserve forest comprises an area of over 22,403 hectares, out of which 1,410 hectares were encroached upon by illegal settlers. According to Hojai Divisional Forest Officer Gounadeep Das, about 3,000 people from 670 families were living on the encroached land.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had informed that a total of 1500 families were evicted from the Lumding reserve forest.
Violence in Darrang district of Assam during anti-encroachment drive
Prior to this, an eviction drive conducted by the administration in Darrang district in Assam had turned violent after encroachers of the land attacked security forces. While 9 policemen were injured in the attack by the mob of illegal encroachers, 2 attackers were killed in retaliatory police firing.
The incident took place at the Dholpur in the Garukhuti area near the Sipajhar town in Darrang district in Assam, where the Himanta Biswa Sarma government was conducting an eviction drive of illegal settlers on land belonging to the government or other organisations like temples. When the eviction party reached the place inhabited by Bengali-speaking Muslims on Thursday, hundreds of people clashed with the police, attacking them with stones, machetes, pointed bamboo sticks etc.
Assam crackdown on Jihadi terrorists operating from mosques and madarsas
Besides, the Assam government has been clamping down on Jihadi terrorists operating from mosques and madarsas in the state. Recently, the Assam administration and police have demolished multiple Madarsas run and managed by clerics with links to Bangladesh-based terror outfit Al-Qaeda Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT).
