TURA: Failure on the part of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) for 12 long years to act on a church complaint against encroachers has been strongly criticised by several Garo organizations who have taken the matter up and issued a two week ultimatum to the GHADC demanding the removal of all illegal settlers.
Leaders of the Garo Students Union-Interim Body, Garoland State Movement Committee (GSMC), All India Garo Union (AIGU), All A’chik Youth Welfare Society (AAYWS) and the All A’chik Youth Federation met with the GHADC Executive Member in charge of land and revenue, Brilliant R Sangma, to raise the issue of evicting the illegal settlers who had encroached into the land belonging to Batabari Baptist Church in Rajabala area.
The first encroachment complaint by church leaders was lodged with the district council as far back as 2007 when around eight illegal households, suspected to be from neighbouring Assam, began pitching up temporary houses to reside.
Though the district council issued an eviction order on July 30th 2007, yet it took no further steps to remove the squatters who over time had brought in more people and increased their numbers of settlers.
“After a gap of 12 years the encroachers have not vacated the place and instead brought in more and more families to reside thereby aggravating the situation,” warned the student leaders who threaten to launch agitations unless the encroachers are removed within the stipulated fifteen days time.
The problem of influx from neighbouring Assam and even Bangladesh has been a decades’ old issue in the plains belt region of West and South West Garo Hills districts. A small population of minority settlers has, over the years, burgeoned into a majority in many of the plains belt areas boosted by illegal settlements. Some of the Garo A’king Nokmas who hold custodian of the lands are also to blame for selling tribal land to non-tribals while the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council, particularly the land and revenue department, has been blamed by a majority of people for giving away land documents (Pattas) of tribal lands to non-tribal ownerships in the region.
Similar encroachment problems are being faced at Wadagokgre archaeological site in the plain areas of Rajabala too where illegal settlers have taken possession of lands that had been demarcated by the government in and around the historical site.