Assam: ABPP backs eviction demand in BTC forest areas

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Adivasi Bhumiputra People’s Party (ABPP) extended support to the demand raised by the Bodoland Janojati Surekha Manch (BJSM) for carrying out eviction drives against alleged illegal encroachers in reserve forest areas of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), warning of democratic mass movements if action is not initiated within May.

ABPP president Dr Phukan Chandra Boro stated that the demand for eviction in reserve forest areas was necessary to protect national parks and preserve the biodiversity, flora and fauna of the region. He alleged that forest areas were facing extensive destruction due to encroachment by people from outside the state.

He said the party fully supported action against alleged illegal occupiers in reserve forests and simultaneously urged the Assam government to initiate eviction drives against alleged encroachers in tribal belts and blocks.

Boro claimed that successive state governments had failed to free tribal lands from illegal occupation over the years. He further stated that despite directions reportedly issued by the Gauhati High Court in 2019 to district administrations and autonomous council authorities in tribal-dominated regions, the directives had allegedly not been implemented.

The ABPP president also alleged that large tracts of tribal land had been acquired for government projects and institutions. He demanded that the government stop acquiring tribal land for institutional projects and refrain from allocating such land to private business interests.

He further claimed that indigenous tribal communities living in several areas, including the hilly regions of Guwahati, had faced eviction drives on various occasions. He urged the government to take action against alleged illegal encroachers in tribal belts and blocks and to provide land pattas to indigenous tribal communities.

The party also expressed opposition to what it described as anti-tribal policies allegedly linked to proposed settlement initiatives in the Jagiroad and Bordowa tea garden areas within the Loharghat region.

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