By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, July 21: “Till the Congress government is in power in Assam, our xatras will never be safe. If the Congress reign in the State continues, our xatras will soon slip into the hands of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants,” said Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) State general secretary Diplu Ranjan Sarma.

He further said, “Already large parts of xatra land have been encroached upon by the illegal immigrants and this has been proved in the replies given by the minister during Assembly sessions. To create awareness about this encroachment of xatra land, BJYM had visited all the xatras and talked with the xatradhikars. We had approached the Assam Governor and he took up the issue seriously. He also assured us that he would take up the matter with the State Government. We do not know what the Governor has done but we definitely know that the Assam Government has done nothing in this regard.”

Sarma said, “Of late, xatradhikars of various xatras are being threatened. Incidents of theft and loot in xatras are being reported from different parts of the State. The government simply orders an inquiry but the culprits never get arrested. We have a strong suspicion that illegal Bangladeshi immigrants are behind all the thefts. This is part of their larger scheme of things to encroach upon all xatras.”

He added, “We demand that the government must take concrete steps to protect xatras and their xatradhikars and to make xatra land encroachment-free.”