Fresh eviction drive in Darrang to free 250 bighas of encroached govt land on Oct 15
Around 8,000 bighas freed in extended areas of Garukhuti, as administration follows Gauhati high court guidelines for eviction
File image of Garukhuti, Sipajhar after eviction (Photo: @koustav_saharia/x)
Mangaldai, Oct 14: The Darrang district administration has been preparing for a fresh eviction drive in the extended area of the Garukhuti multipurpose agricultural project in Sipajhar.
The eviction is scheduled on October 15 next to free 250 bighas of encroached government land at No. 3 Dhalpur village.
“The preparation of eviction is being made as per the recent guidelines of the Gauhati High Court. Accordingly, notices have been served to all the 167 families residing there more than one month ago. However, no petition has been received from them so far over any claim on the land,” said Parag Kumar Kakaty, District Commissioner, Darrang, while talking to this correspondent on Monday.
The families, with a population of around 700 people, raised a total of 203 structures in that area. Meanwhile, a section of these families has already started leaving the area with their belongings once the security personnel started moving in on Monday. It may be mentioned here that so far, around 8,000 bighas of government land of the locality under the Sipajhar revenue circle have been freed from encroachers.
The upcoming eviction is part of the ongoing Garukhuti project, which was initiated to promote agricultural activities and prevent illegal encroachments on government land.
As reported earlier, under the project, 7,853 bighas of land have already been cleared in the Sipajhar area, and 2,166 families have been relocated to other areas.
The project, backed by the state government, aims to convert the freed land into a multipurpose agro-farming zone involving local youth and indigenous communities.
It may be recalled that the earlier eviction drives in the same area had witnessed violent clashes on September 23, 2021, leading to the death of two civilians and injuries to several others, including nine policemen.