5 Tribal organizations oppose eviction in Silsako Beel

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Five tribal organizations – the Guwahati District Committee of the All Bodo Students' Union (ABSU), All Assam Tribal Sangha (AATS), Takam Mising Porin Kebang (TMPK), Mising Mimak Kebang (MMK) and All Assam Tribal Youth League (AATYL) – staged a protest at Chachal today against the eviction carried out in Silsako Beel on May 13 by the GMDA (Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority).

The tribal organizations demanded an immediate stop to the further eviction against the indigenous tribal people, rehabilitation of the evicted indigenous tribal households within the Guwahati Metropolitan Area through settlement and compensation for the property destroyed during the eviction drive.

The organizations sent a memorandum to the Chief Minister through the local authorities.

They said that the authorities did not issue any notice to the households before the May 13 eviction. "It has badly affected the right to live with dignity of the evicted citizens of different age groups. Old and school-going children are facing difficulties due to the eviction drive of the GMDA. Many of the evicted families had been living in the 'lately notified wetland area' for years before the Guwahati Water Bodies (Preservation & Conservation) Act, 2008, was enacted and passed. We object to the way the law has been passed without considering the alternative resettlement of the indigenous people already living in the area before the law coming to into effect. We feel that the common people are always the easy targets of the government as we see that the rich and the powerful are spared from getting evicted," the memorandum said.

They further said that the evicted families have already been enrolled in the Electoral Rolls in the addresses of the area they were living before the eviction and have been exercising their voting rights for years.

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