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Time of India
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
‘Encroachers' pelt stones, charge at cops during Dhubri eviction drive
1 2 3 4 5 6 Guwahati: Tension ran high in Chapar recenue circle of Dhubri District on Tuesday when alleged encroachers tried to attack police personnel during an eviction drive. The mob damaged excavators by pelting stones at them and hitting them with bamboo sticks, prompting security forces to resort to a baton charge to disperse them. Chapar circle officer Shashee Bhusan Raj Konwar said the people suddenly charged at the eviction team with bamboo sticks and pelted stones at them during the drive at Chirakuta, Charuwa Bakra and Santoshpur village. "They damaged the excavators. However, no one sustained injuries," he added. Following the incident, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said govt's aim is to free land across the state from encroachment so that those can be utilised for public interest. "Over 90% of families vacated the land voluntarily at Chapar. Only about 10% of families were evicted on Tuesday. An eviction drive will be conducted at Paikan in Goalpara district on Thursday, which is a reserve forest. We want to make the reserve forest encroachment-free," the CM told the media. Circle officer Konwar said as per their survey, around 800 families were found to be illegally occupying govt land, where the state has proposed to set up a thermal power plant. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Villa For Sale in Dubai Prices Might Surprise You! Villa for sale in Dubai | Search Ads Learn More Undo He added that cheques of one-time financial assistance of Rs 50,000 each were disbursed to over 700 families and the remaining families will also be provided the assistance. Moreover, he said, the families have also been provided alternate land at Boyjer Alga village under Athani revenue circle. "There is a section of people who resist anything positive and try to create problems. The situation is under control now," he said. Sivasagar MLA and Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi, who went to meet the affected people, was stopped by the police from visiting the eviction sites. He was taken away from the area by police, party sources said. Official sources said the cleared land, which would be around 3,500 bighas, will be handed over to Assam Power Distribution Company Limited for the thermal power project. Eviction drives are being carried out in Charuwa Bakra, Chirakuta, and Santoshpur villages, and those living there were given notices about three months ago to vacate the alleged encroached land.
Indian Express
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Mega eviction drive across 3 Assam villages sees stone pelting and lathi charge; 1,400 families displaced
Tensions rose on Tuesday as the Assam government carried out one of its largest evictions to date, displacing around 1,400 families from 3,500 bighas (over 450 hectares) of land in Dhubri district to make way for a proposed thermal power project. The eviction drive, carried out across three revenue villages of Charuabakhra, Santoshpur and Chirakuta Pt. 1, started on Tuesday morning. Violence flared around midday when residents began pelting stones and bricks at a bulldozer, prompting police to resort to lathi charge to disperse them. According to officials, two pieces of equipment were damaged. Sivasagar MLA and Raijor Dal leader Akhil Gogoi also travelled to the site but was detained by the police and taken away. Calling the eviction illegal and unconstitutional, Gogoi said, 'This is nothing but bullying of minorities. I clearly stated that the affected people should be fairly compensated.' These 3,500 bighas of government khas land in Dhubri district is primarily occupied by Bengali-speaking Muslims, and the district administration estimates there are around 1,700 structures built on it where 1,400 families live. 'This is government khas land which has been allotted to the APDCL (Assam Power Distribution Company Limited) for a thermal power plant, and they will do the tendering for the project,' said Dhubri DC Dibakar Nath. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had visited these sites last month and announced that the land had been earmarked as the site of a proposed 3,200 MW thermal power plant, a project for which the state government has been in talks with the Adani group. In April this year, Sarma met Jeet Adani in Guwahati to 'finalise key Adani projects in Assam', including a thermal power plant. This is the fourth such drive carried out by the Assam government in the past month, with similar evictions in Goalpara, Nalbari and Lakhimpur. Over 2,300 families have been displaced in total. Jakir Hussain (39) is one of the few residents of Charuabakra who has stayed in his house through the eviction. 'Since we have patta (land rights) in the village, the circle officer told us that we will be given land somewhere else. So we are holding tight and waiting to be told where we will be given some land. We have been given time till July 15 to leave,' he said, adding that his family had moved to the village around 40 years ago after they were displaced from a char (riverine sandbar) elsewhere in Dhubri because of river erosion. His family is among 197 pattadars identified by the district administration among those living in these villages. 'In the case of these people, there will be land acquisition, and they will be given land or money. The rest are encroachers; they have been given Rs 50,000 ex gratia per family, mostly to assist them with transportation. We have allocated 300 bighas of land in Baizar Alga village where people who will become landless after the eviction can go and take possession,' said DC Nath.
