9 hours ago
Halt Goalpara eviction, give land to affected: Cong to CM
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Guwahati: Senior
Congress leader
and leader of the opposition in Assam assembly, Debabrata Saikia, wrote to CM
Himanta Biswa Sarma
, urging him to stay the eviction in Goalpara and to provide alternate land to those evicted and those yet to be evicted.
A total of 667 families were evicted for allegedly encroaching over 600 bighas of land at Hasilabeel village under Balijana revenue circle in lower Assam's Goalpara district. The families mostly belong to the Bengali-speaking Muslim community, officials said.
Saikia urged the CM to direct the Goalpara district commissioner not to evict the people until the CM meets with the people of the village on June 18.
"We have already stated that we will cooperate with the govt to free the land from encroachers, subject to compliance with various guidelines issued by the Supreme Court, and also laws and rules enacted by the Assam Legislative Assembly for eviction of landless people and rehabilitation, in case they are evicted from govt land, Khas land, reserve land, etc," he added.
He said it was apparent that the people occupying the land in question were living there as they had no alternative land to build their houses and provide shelter to their families.
He also directed a Congress delegation, led by chief whip of the party in the Assembly Wazed Ali Choudhury, to visit the eviction site at the earliest and submit a memorandum to the governor, urging him to ensure fair practice and extend all help for rehabilitation, in case eviction of citizens is carried out from the presently occupied land by the govt as per rules.
On the other hand, an eight-member Congress delegation was stopped by Assam Police and local authorities from visiting the eviction site. Police put up barricades at Hashila Beel in Goalpara to stop the Congress MLAs from proceeding.
