Aayushi Srivastava –
Published on: November 05, 2021 at 17:29 IST
According to the Assam government, 130 hectares have been set aside for relocating evicted Gorukhuti families in the Darrang district, provided they are valid citizens and fulfill several other criteria.
“An area of about 1,000 bighas (about 134 hectares) of land in the southern part of No 1 & No 3 Dhalpur village has been earmarked for relocating the evicted persons subject to verification of the status of erosion affected and landless status in their respective original places and districts, citizenship and existing rehabilitation policy of the state,” the Affidavit by the Government said.
The government declared in an Affidavit to the Gauhati High Court in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Leader of the Opposition, Debabrata Saikia, that the evicted inhabitants of Dhalpur village in Gorukuti will not be compensated since they are encroachers.
On November 3, 2021, the Gauhati High Court Bench, headed by Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and comprising Justice Kakheto Sema, heard the case and gave the State Government one week to file a comprehensive Counter-Affidavit, as well as setting December 14 as the next hearing date.
The Court stated, “As of now for the remaining alleged encroachers, no coercive measure is being adopted as efforts are being made to convince them to move to the demarcated area.”
On September 20 and 23, roughly 1,200-1,400 buildings in Gorukhuti’s Dhalpur I, II, and III villages were burnt to the ground, according to various reports, displacing around 7,000 people.
Apart from Saikia’s Petition, the Gauhati High Court had also filed a Suo Moto PIL following the violent eviction campaign in Sipajhar, and the two cases were merged.
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