The Assam government on Sunday launched an eviction drive to clear 650 bighas or nearly 215 acres of land in Dhubri district from alleged encroachment
GUWAHATI — The Assam government on Sunday launched an eviction drive to clear 650 bighas or nearly 215 acres of land in Dhubri district from alleged encroachment, officials said.
The drive would displace nearly 550 families, they said.
Dhubri District Commissioner Dibakar Nath said the administration started the eviction drive this morning to clear the encroachments in Alamganj Part-9 of Gauripur circle.
"We had sent notices to around 700 families that had encroached on 800 bighas of land. Of them, 150 people living on around 150 bighas have approached the court seeking relief. As the matter is sub judice, the eviction drive was not carried out on those lands," Nath told PTI.
The DC said the administration launched the eviction drive on the remaining 650 bighas of land, and many families already voluntarily left the place after receiving the notices.
"So far, there has been no resistance and the exercise is underway peacefully. We will clear the area today itself," he added.
The district administration is using 50 excavators, a large number of tractor-trolleys and other machinery to clear the area, with support from several thousands of civil and police personnel.
Since the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led government came to power for the first time in 2021, it has carried out a series of evictions to clear land from alleged encroachments, mostly affecting the Bengali-speaking Muslim population, locally called 'Miyas'.
'Miya' is originally a pejorative term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam and non-Bengali speaking people generally identify them as Bangladeshi immigrants. In recent years, activists from the community have started adopting this term as a gesture of defiance.