Guwahati: Ahead of the announcement of assembly election dates, the Assam govt on Saturday stepped up action against illegal occupation of tribal land, with the Kamrup (Metro) district administration launching a major eviction drive near Guwahati airport under the Azara revenue circle.The operation targeted alleged encroachments by Muslim families on more than 700 bighas of tribal land. More than 500 families had been living in the area, known to settlers as Islampur.
“The target is to clear around 737 bighas, and today about 200 bighas of land was cleared of encroachment. The eviction drive will continue. Many Assam-type concrete houses and kutcha houses were razed,” said a senior district administration official.He added that some of those evicted had been living there for at least two generations.“The entire area is a tribal belt where only tribal people, or people (families) who settled there before the declaration of the tribal belt by the govt, can reside,” the official said.Officials said 10 to 15 families claimed they had been living there since before the area was declared a tribal belt and that their documents were being verified. Their houses were not touched on Saturday.Residents facing eviction said they were indigenous Muslims, not migrants, and described themselves as victims of erosion caused by the Brahmaputra. Administration officials said they were unable to provide valid documents to establish land rights.Several families had already vacated the area in the days before the drive. On Saturday, bulldozers demolished concrete homes and other structures built in the settlement over the past few decades.The eviction followed a Feb 27 notice issued by the circle officer of Azara revenue circle, directing families unable to produce documents proving eligibility to live on the land in the tribal belt to vacate within 15 days.A head of one affected family said, “We are flood and erosion-affected people from Futuri in nearby Palasbari constituency.” Many families said they had lived there for more than two decades and received govt benefits.
