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| Photo Credit: @mygovassam on Twitter |
On 17 May, 25 families were evicted from Jamugurihat in North Assam's Sonitpur District, few days after the Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma-led government took charge on May 10. This was amidst the covid-19 crisis when the state is in the lockdown. According to Indiatoday.in report and Assam government data, the Brahmaputra river has wiped out nearly 4,000 sq km area larger than Goa which forms about 7.5 per cent of the total area of Assam. Over 5 lakh families in Assam have been displaced due to floods and soil erosion - problems the state is facing for the last six decades. The evicted people are the ones who became landless due to the flood erosion by the Brahmaputra River. According to The Economic Times report (dated 16 July 2020) Assam government has announced that a rehabilitation policy would soon be taken up by government for the flood and erosion hit landless people.
The inhumane act didn't stop there. The eviction drive was also performed in Kaki Tila Bazar, near Taralangso area of Hojai District on 6 June. The Hojai district administration demolished 74 homes. According to reports, these homes were constructed on 275 bigha of forest land. The people of that area claimed that the land was earlier provided by the government to 16 Indian Militaries who were allegedly the previous generations of the settlers. Not only homes, the demolishers also destroyed the rice fields, sugarcane plants and many other cultivations of the people.
This eviction was in violation of the spirit of the order of the full bench of Gauhati High Court. Notably, the Gauhati High Court in its May 10, 2021 order had stated: “It is also made clear that any decree for eviction/dispossession or demolition which was passed by any Court, Tribunal or authority during this period, shall remain in abeyance subject to any specific orders which may be passed in a given case.” This violates the Rule 18(3)(a)(i) of the Settlement Rules under Assam Land and Revenue Regulation, 1886. It states that the settlers should be allowed to vacate the encroached land within 15 days of publication of the notice on the land concerned.
A 49 year old farmer from that area said, "It was not possible to shift my house at night as there is curfew due to the coronavirus pandemic. But even if there was no curfew, where would I go?"
At Dhalpur area near Sipajhar in Darrang district, another 120 bigha area of Dhalpur Shiva Mandir was cleared of encroachment during an eviction drive on 7 June, 2021. The drive was carried out by police and district administration in Sipajhar. Assam Chief Minister (CM) Dr. Himanta Biswa Sharma visited Gorukhuti in Sipajhar to inspect the eviction drive in the riverine areas of the Shiva Mandir. According to sentinelassam.com, Dr. Himanta Biswa Sharma wanted to make it a place for tourist attraction.
Similarly, the forest department and district administration demolished 28 homes at Bazarghat and Solmona areas in Karimganj district. District Forest Officer (DFO) of Karimganj, Jalnur Ali said, "We have so far recovered about 60 hectares of forest land from encroachers."
The Assam cabinet decided to form a committee to utilise 77 thousand bighas of government land and make it free from encroachers. The committee was formed under the chairmanship of MLA Padma Hazarika. Other members of the committee are MP Dilip Saikia, MLA Mrinal Saikia, and Dr. Paramananda Rajbangshi. The Secretary and Director of Agriculture, Vinod Seshan will act as Member Secretary.
Eyeing this, MP from Barpeta constituency, Abdul Khaleque wrote a letter to Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court on June 7, seeking the court's intervention to stop the eviction amid the pandemic."This immoral and inhuman action has put the families, including women and children, at the risk of getting infected with coronavirus as they have been rendered homeless. It is in violation of Articles 21 and 39 of the Indian Constitution. Encroachers should be evicted but not at a time of crisis,” Mr. Khaleque said to the reporters.
"Many of these people occupied government land after their houses were eroded by rivers. They are so poor that they can't buy another plot and did not get any compensation," Aminul Islam, general secretary of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), the opposition party led by Maulana Badruddin Ajmal stated.
"The Brahmaputra and its tributaries eroded more than 8% of the total landmass of its bank, making lakhs of families homeless. The government, instead of resettling them, started to evict the helpless habitants who dwelled on government owned lands. This violates the Article 14 and 15 of the Indian Constitution. In this life-threatening Covid crisis and unremitting rains, considering the situation of the affected children and women, this act of government is extremely inhumane and roughshod," Ashraful Hussain (MLA, Chenga Constituency) said expressing deep concern for the victims.
Reacting to the decision ASSP (Asom Sankhyalaghu Sangram Parishad) President Muhammad Khalifa said “It is disheartening to see that the Cabinet decided to evict people from 77,000 bigha lands in the name of development. People living in those are citizens of India who have been residing there much before 1970”.
The All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU) has also criticised the eviction drive. “The State government has violated the High Court’s order that clearly states that there would be no eviction drive during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Assam government should stop harassing the minority people under communal agenda,” the AAMSU said.
Manoranjan Talukdar, legislator of Sorbhog constituency (CPI-M) strongly opposed the eviction drive. "Firstly, I am against the eviction which is done without resettlement and rehabilitation of the ousted settlers which is unconstitutional. Secondly, I condemn the sheer practice of communal outburst targetted on one particular religious citizenry," he said.
On the other hand, Chief Minister of Assam, Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma defending the eviction drive said, "We can't allow people to occupy the land of our temples and forests. There is so much increase in population that there is shortage of living space. If this continues, then time will come when they will come to occupy the land of Kamakhya temple. All those, including the AAMSU and AIUDF, who are demanding that these people should be rehabilitated should rather focus on population control."
Aman Wadud, a lawyer at the Gauhati High Court, said the eviction drives were politically motivated and targeted at Muslims only. "In January 2021, the government provided land pattas (documents) to 1.6 lakh indigenous landless people. But on the other hand, after getting re-elected, the BJP government is evicting landless Muslims out of their homes. This is grossly partisan and the discriminatory action of the government is in violation of Article 14 and 15 of the Constitution. This government is attacking the very foundational concepts of the Constitution," he said.
The government owned land are basically reserved in the interest of public and ecological balance. The big question here is - Is the eviction of the landless people of flood erosion from the government owned land is in interest of the public? Ain't the people dwelling there are public i.e, the rightful citizen of India? Why aren't they given re-settlement? Where will the people go? How will they live? What will they do to earn a livelihood? How will their children deal with the situation? Why only so called bengal-origin muslims are targeted? If this is not communal intolerance then what is it? If this is not divisive politics then what is it? Whom do the government want to make happy? Ain't this a serious human rights violation?
Still in this 21st century, after 74 years of independence, the people don't have the fundamental rights to live with dignity and possess a shelter. We failed as a society at large. We should strongly oppose the act of the government and save our society from destruction. If this goes on, the unity among the people living together in this society will be destroyed and a chaotic, polarised and inhumane society will be formed where there will be no peace and progress.
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Assam