Guwahati, Aug. 19: The ruling BJP in Assam has welcomed the Gauhati High Court’s verdict upholding the eviction drive across the forest areas of the state.
Notably, the High Court’s division bench, comprising Chief Justice Ashish Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury, on Monday upheld the Assam government’s action of evicting forest lands from alleged encroachers.
In a statement on Tuesday, BJP Assam Pradesh spokesperson Kalyan Gogoi stated that though the Judges had earlier (on August 17) issued a temporary stay, the Court, on August 18, advised the state government to secure the cleared land with barbed fencing to prevent any future encroachment.
Gogoi said the state government has so far freed over 1.3 lakh bighas of land from illegal encroachment despite continuous criticism and attempts by several Opposition parties to halt this eviction drive. However, nearly 29 lakh bighas still remain under unlawful occupation.
It may be mentioned that the state government has already cleared 15,000 bighas of land in the Rengma forest area of Golaghat, where a massive afforestation programme has also been initiated.
The BJP spokesperson further said that the influx of unidentified outsiders into reserved lands, markets, and transport sectors has posed a grave threat to the indigenous people of Assam.
Gogoi said that if the unchecked infiltration by people of suspected Bangladeshi origin continues, then within the next decade, such people would have a significant influence on the state’s politics, agriculture and economy.
“The chief minister has firmly reiterated that the eviction drive would continue until every inch of illegally occupied land is freed,” he said
“It is significant to note that hundreds of families in Uriamghat and 390 families in Biswanath district voluntarily vacated the encroached land upon hearing about the eviction orders, which proves that they had knowingly settled on government land,” the spokesperson said.
“However, for mere political gains, the Congress and other Opposition parties have chosen to legitimise these illegal settlements, thereby endangering the future of the indigenous population,” he said.
