UDALGURI, Aug 2: Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said the government does not consider unauthorised occupation of public land by indigenous people as encroachment.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a BJP programme here, Sarma said the government will continue its eviction drives against encroachments by suspected foreigners across the state.
“There are two types of encroachments. If indigenous people are living (unauthorisedly), then we don’t consider it as encroachment. Those who have come from Bangladesh, we consider only those cases as encroachments,” he said.
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Sarma’s comments came on the backdrop of a massive eviction drive to clear alleged encroachments from almost 11,000 bighas (nearly 1,500 hectares) of forest land in Golaghat district.
“The places where foreigners and doubtful citizens are living, we will carry out evictions there. That’s our goal and we are proceeding accordingly,” the CM stressed.
On July 25, Sarma had said that all unauthorised occupation of VGR (Village Grazing Reserve), PGR (Professional Grazing Reserve), Satras, Namghars, forest land and other public areas would be cleared of encroachments in a phased manner.
He had earlier said that 1.29 lakh bighas (over 42,500 acres) have been cleared of encroachment in the last four years, and around 29 lakh bighas (more than 9.5 lakh acres) of land are still under encroachment in the state.
Sarma had claimed that these huge swathes of land were under encroachment of “illegal Bangladeshis and doubtful citizens” in the state. (PTI)
