HT Correspondent
MARGHERITA, July 17: A fact-finding team led by CPI(ML) Arrah Lok Sabha MP Sudama Prasad and Assam State Committee Secretary Bibek Das visited the recently evicted areas of Ashudubi in Goalpara district and the site of the proposed satellite township project at Barduar under the Palashbari revenue circle of Kamrup district on Wednesday.
The delegation claimed that the eviction drive carried out on July 12 violated the Gauhati High Court’s directive prohibiting evictions without prior rehabilitation.
Related Posts:
According to the team, eviction notices had been issued on June 18, and on the day of the eviction, around 60 JCB machines and hundreds of police and paramilitary personnel were deployed, creating what the team described as a “war-like situation.”
The team alleged that displaced families were not provided basic amenities such as drinking water, toilets, food or temporary shelter.
Speaking to this correspondent over telephone, CPI(ML) Central Committee member Balindra Saikia stated that the area was declared part of a reserved forest under a new name to justify the eviction, even though it housed government infrastructure like a school and a water supply scheme under its previous designation—facilities that, he pointed out, cannot be legally established inside reserved forests.
The team observed that 70 families had been granted land pattas, about 100 others had received official land allotments, and land revenue had been collected by the government from residents.
Of the 1,038 bighas in the area, 800 bighas were being used for residential and agricultural purposes by around 1,100 families—mostly extremely poor households, with less than one bigha of land per family on average, according to Saikia.
The team further alleged that the eviction was part of a conspiracy to hand over the land to private business interests.
It also reported that one resident, Sheikh Monirul Islam (27), committed suicide after receiving the eviction notice, while another resident, Anaruddin Sheikh (60), died of heart failure during the eviction process.
The eviction also reportedly saw the demolition of two primary schools, eight mosques, two madrasas, three Eidgahs, three Imambaras, five Anganwadi centres, two Jal Jeevan Mission projects, and 15 licensed pharmacies.
Later, the team attended a public meeting at Barduar Tea Estate in the Palashbari constituency, chaired by Gobind Rabha, president of the Barduar Land Patta Demand Committee, to discuss the government’s proposed satellite township.
There, the team expressed concern that tribal and indigenous communities residing in the area for nearly a century were being displaced for commercial development.
MP Sudama Prasad stated that the BJP-led Himanta Biswa Sarma government’s attempts to dispossess local tribal communities of their land rights would be resisted and that the people have a constitutional claim over Assam’s land, forest, and water.
CPI(ML)’s Bibek Das raised concerns over the proposed 55 MW dam on the Kulsi River, citing threats to local livelihoods and the environment.
The fact-finding team also alleged that Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council Chief Executive Member Tankeswar Rabha was complicit in the land takeover and had allegedly threatened Muslim residents of Ashudubi with eviction if they did not support the BJP.
MP Sudama Prasad assured residents that he would raise these issues—including what he described as inhumane evictions, denial of land rights, and unlawful land appropriation—in Parliament.
The team also comprised CPI(ML) central committee leader and former Bihar MLA Manoj Manzil, CPI(ML) state committee members Pankaj Kumar Das, Balindra Saikia, Ananta Hazarika, and trade union leader Subhash Singh.
