Nearly 300 families evicted in peaceful drive
HT Correspondent
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NAGAON, Dec 19: The Nagaon district administration on Monday launched an eviction drive to clear encroached areas near the birthplace of Vaishnav saint Sankardeva at Batadrava.
Over 300 families were reportedly evicted during the drive.
The drive in which over 1,000 security personnel were deployed began in the early morning hours of Monday at Santijan bazaar area and has been peaceful so far, Nagaon superintendent of police Leena Doley told reporters here.
The administration also used 10 bulldozers, 2 excavators during the peaceful eviction drive on Monday.
No incidents of scuffle or any untoward incidents have been reported till the time of filing this report, sources added.
Nearly 90 per cent of the encroached lands have been cleared and there was no report of any violence or protest from any part, she said.
“People have cooperated with us …,” she said, adding more than 80 per cent of the people dismantled their houses, shops and other structures on their own and vacated the area.
The deputy commissioner had issued prohibitory orders to prevent any gathering and check any untoward incident, which is likely to affect over 5,000 people.
The eviction drive to clear over 1,200 bighas of encroached land will take place over the next four days and tight security arrangements have been made in the area. A large police force under its senior officers has been camping there since December 13 and held flag marches, Doley said.
The eviction drive was reportedly carried out quite peacefully as per schedule set by the administration concerned respectively at Batadrava Santijan bazar, Haidubi agriculture seed farm, Jamaibasti, Lalungaon pothar and cleared several hundred bighas of land which was encroached for many years by some people, sources said.
The district administration served notices to over 1,000 families of alleged encroachers in October.
Speaking to this correspondent late on Monday afternoon here, deputy commissioner, Narendra Kr Shah said that more than 300 families had illegally encroached as well as occupied the government land and erected houses there and the authority concerned of the revenue circle issued official notification to vacate the land beforehand.
Among these illegal encroachers, the major portion of them abided by the administration and vacated the land automatically by shifting themselves away at some places.
“Only 75 families who are reluctant to vacate the land are camping there till today,” he said, adding that “they were also evicted from the site quite peacefully during the day”.
He said that the details of the eviction drive would be briefed to the media persons soon.
The deputy commissioner had issued another notice stating that the Dhing indoor stadium would serve as a temporary detention camp in case of a breach of peace and tranquility in the locality.
The affected people have said that they will cooperate with the administration and demanded that the government provide them with alternative arrangements. Most of them have moved in with relatives in neighbouring villages, towns and even districts and are demanding land with proper government documents.
Clearing encroachments, particularly from the sattra land here, was BJP’s major poll issue in the last assembly election.
This present one is the second major large-scale eviction. The first at Dhalpur area of Darrang district in September 2021 led to violence, resulting in the death of two persons and over 20 injured.
The Assam State Commission for Review and Assessment of Problems submitted its interim report to chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma earlier this month wherein it stated the need to clear encroached sattra land and take steps for the promotion and preservation of the culture and heritage of Vaishnavite institutions. (With inputs from PTI)
