Bulldozers arrive in Assam village as drive to evict over 600 families from wetlands begins
The eviction and demolition of homes began with heavy security deployment on Monday morning in Goalpara district's Hasila Beel village, where most of the residents are Bengali-origin Muslims.
Goalpara DC Khanindra Chaudhury, who oversaw the eviction drive, said the residents had been illegally encroaching on government land.
'This is actually a wetland, and we had issued notices both in 2023 and 2024 to the illegal encroachers to vacate the area themselves. Some people still had not left, and on Friday, we issued notices again. Almost 20-25% of the people have left by themselves,' he told reporters.
The administration has estimated that 667 houses would be evicted. However, the drive was not completed on Monday as it was hampered by rain in the afternoon.
'It has been peaceful and there has been no resistance,' said Chaudhury.
Suleman Ali (50), whose house was demolished on Monday, expressed distress at the lack of rehabilitation arrangements. He said his family had been living on this land for over 70 years and that he had been born there.
'The demolitions started two days after the notice was given, which is not enough time to gather all our belongings and make arrangements. We had a pucca house here. The children have exams in a few days. They are in terror now, and I am very worried about their future. We stood in the rain for two hours after they demolished our house, and now the police have told us not to set up any kind of tent or shelter here. I don't know where we will spend the night. There should have been some kind of rehabilitation arrangement for us, we are completely landless people,' he said.
Leaders of the All Assam Minority Students' Union (AAMSU) arrived at the site on Monday afternoon. AAMSU president Rejaul Karim Sarkar also said there should have been a proper rehabilitation plan.
'The Supreme Court has already given guidelines that people cannot be evicted in this way without rehabilitation. If they are given notices one day and the bulldozers are operated the next day, the people will not be able to gather all their belongings and leave. These people are all from Goalpara, who have been living here for 50-60 years after being affected by river erosion in riverine areas. The government's first responsibility was to come up with a rehabilitation plan for them or to give them some time,' he said.
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