Assam government began an eviction drive on Monday from almost 1,000 bigha of land (1.35 sqkm) near Batadraba Than, the birthplace of Srimanta Sankardev, the saint-scholar and socioreligious reformer who lived in the 15th and 16th centuries.
After the Commission for Review and Assessment of Problems of Satra Lands in Assam (CRAPSLA) submitted its report on encroachments in “satras” (Vaishnavite monasteries founded by Srimanta Sankadev) across the state earlier this month, this is the first such drive.
“The eviction campaign began on Monday about 6am and is going well with no resistance or violence from residents. The entire operation could take three days to complete given the size of the area that needs to be cleared,” according to a senior district police officer in Nagaon district.
“We held many rounds of discussions with locals who acknowledged that they were on public property and consented to remove their settlements independently. Most of them had relocated on their own until Monday morning after removing their unlawful buildings from the area,” the police officer said.
For almost a week, the administration had been preparing for the eviction campaign. To maintain peace, over 700 members of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Assam Police have been dispatched.
Since December 13, security personnel have camped nearby and led a flag march. Large gatherings are likewise forbidden by the district administration in accordance with Section 144 of the Criminal Produce.
“Roughly 136 ‘bighas’ (45 acres) of our property, which was formerly used for cultivation, began to be encroached upon in the years between 1986 and 1987. The encroachers were evicted when the BJP-led administration took office in 2016,” said Devananda Deva Goswami, the “satradhikar,” or the spiritual and administrative leader of Batadraba Than.
“However, while the territory of the ‘Than’ is free of encroachment, nearly 900 ‘bighas’ of public property in our vicinity have been severely encroached upon. We appreciate that steps have been done to get rid of the encroachers. We want the area cleared of all illegal structures, even those that are houses of worship,” he continued.
In its interim report, CRAPSLA stated that 7,504 bighas of the 33,265 bighas of land in “satras” control was being encroached upon. 5,545 bighas of land were reported to have been encroached upon by “illegal settlers” in the Barpeta district, which had the biggest area under encroachment.
4,449 families have allegedly been evicted of their homes for “trespassing on public property” since May 2021, when Assam’s second Bharatiya Janata Party-led administration took office, according to government statistics that were presented before the state assembly in September.
Government statistics show that 2,153 families were relocated from their homes in the Darrang district, 805 families were relocated from the Lumding reserve forest in the Hojai district, and 404 families were relocated from government property in the Dhubri district.
Despite the fact that most evictions have been peaceful, two people were killed by police gunfire and close to 20 others were hurt in Dholpur, in the Darrang district, in September of last year, during conflicts between police and civilians during one of the first such drives.
Following the Dholpur eviction, the state government started the ambitious Garukhuti Project, which aims to “clear land from encroachers” and begin agricultural and other related operations in the area by involving “local indigenous youth”. (With agencies inputs)